[SIZE] Psychoacoustics - Chapter 5 (WiP - 8/8/2014 2100)

[SIZE] Psychoacoustics - Chapter 5
WiP Chapter - New Content Starts at Line 121.
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	Having to adapt to the human she was now caring for had changed Vinyl, ever so slightly.  Now her horn would occasionally 'speak' for her, conveying various emotions through sound.  She had also, rather grumpily, started to wake up earlier and earlier as the days passed.  This human was changing her life, for better or for worse; and there wasn't much she could, or really wanted, to do about it.  These thoughts permeated her mind, bringing back some memories that had long since been buried.

	One of which, was the night she found out she was mute.  Some accident had left her with fuzzy memories, and she'd woken up in a hospital bed.  Who or what had done whatever didn't seem to matter all that much.  Of course, the first thing she did, was groggily check her bits.  All the important stuff was still there, not to mention her hooves and her horn, so that excitement passed.  The first real bout of stress hit when the nurse came in.  She'd said something about being awake, and Vinyl had tried to respond.

	Silence.

	Terrifying, undeniable, silence.  The nurse recognized the physical reaction to screaming and tried to calm her down, but wound up calling for assistance when Vinyl's panic really set in.  Three Earth ponies, a unicorn and a pegasus later, Vinyl was finally calm enough for the doctor to explain what had happened.  Most of the conversation was fuzzy medical mumbo jumbo, up until he hit one key point.  The words stood out crystal clear amongst the foggy memory: "You won't speak again."

	It was so... certain.

	Many, many stages of grief hit all at once.  Anger, denial, bargaining... everything except acceptance.  When the doctor mentioned the word 'disabled...' Vinyl wasn't sure how to react.  She'd just sort of stopped.  When she thought of disabled, she thought of legs missing or a broken horn, or even a blind pony.  Mute never came to mind... She certainly didn't feel disabled.  Every attempt to respond with speaking chipped away at that though, driving her further and further into the depression stage of her grief.

	It had been years since that accident and those events.  She'd grown to accept her muteness, even going so far as to pride herself with it.  People didn't come to her concerts for her, they came for her music.  Had she been able to speak, she likely would've butchered something or said something stupid.  Now though, she was left to express herself through her music.  Raw emotion that had few other avenues to express itself was poured into her music, and it flourished because of it.

	Through that change she'd met Octavia.  Her friends had been party goers and wild, just as she was.  Being unable to express yourself with simple phrases like 'get out' or 'maybe later' changed her mindset though.  She started to drift away from her friends that would presser her into doing things, and more towards her quieter friends.  Her newer friends that saw her and her music, not just her parties.  The thought of her emotions appealing to her now very dear friends made her chuckle.  One look at what herself and Octavia performed music wise would suggest that the two should absolutely despise each other.

	Then, one day, that stupid Earth pony had to go and get Vinyl to take care of her little human she'd found... It wouldn't have been so bad, had she not been currently mulling over all of these thoughts because of how she'd been thrown out of the theater.  Her horn had gotten her in trouble for the second time since she'd met the human, going and making some low tone thumping sound.  It had wound up drawing attention from other patrons.  One thing led to another, and 'I'm going to have to ask you to leave' was eventually whispered into her ear by a security pony.

	If the stupid human was just a little bigger, he wouldn't have been so easy to cuddle.  Had he not been so easy to cuddle, she wouldn't have snuggled him up on her side while they both ate popcorn.  Stupid human... stupid horn... stupid popcorn... She hadn't been thrown out of a theater since before she was mute; much less for making noise.  A mute pony, thrown out of a theater for making too much noise!  Ha!  What made it worse though, was now the human was curious as to why she had made that noise, and he wasn't letting up so easily.

	"So," the human said, having made his way onto Vinyl's head.  "Any idea what that noise was about?"

	The unicorn huffed, continuing the walk of shame to her house.  He knew the answer to that question, she'd repeated herself multiple times already.  Her horn sparked a few times, making the human scramble for a second.  Would've been a fool proof plan had he not clung to said appendage for balance.  Her heart fluttered up into her throat and stopped beating for a second or two.

	Anonymous wasn't completely dense though, and put two and two together fairly quickly.  He was either hurting her pretty intensely, or touching somewhere he shouldn't be.  He was quick to release her horn, scooting away from it and more towards her forehead.  Once he wasn't attached to the magical appendage, Vinyl shrugged off the moment and continued walking.

	She had confirmed that her horn was indeed portraying her emotions.  The more time she spent with the human, the less control she seemed to have over her outbursts.  Why did she have outbursts though?  Why did it start when he showed up?  What was that stupid noise all about?  She hadn't felt that way before, nor had she ever thought of that noise.  Being a musician, this only confounded her farther.  It was a noise she hadn't heard before, in music or otherwise, yet it seemed so familiar.

	Had she any less self-control, she might've gone back to the theater and attempted to re-create the scenario for the sound.  Then maybe she could get the answers to Anonymous's questions; not to mention her own.  A long 'talk' was most certainly due when they got home.  The human needed to know a few things; what not to touch on a unicorn was most certainly on the list.  Though, she was under the impression him and Octavia had already had that conversation.  Things were so confusing with Anonymous.  How did Tavi put up with him?

	After said human had settled down, the walk back home was relatively quiet yet again.  This feeling was all too familiar, but she'd done it to herself this time.  Anonymous clammed right up after that little spark from her horn, figuring he'd crossed a line of some kind or something.  He most assuredly had; were he a normal stallion, he would have a black eye right now.  You don't touch a unicorn horn and not know the unicorn; even then it's a rarity outside of closed doors and violent fights.

	No matter how hard she tried to keep her mind from wandering back to that sound, it kept finding a way to focus on it.  Her horn wasn't making the sound, but tuning out all the other sounds of the outside world to focus on her thoughts, it had returned.  That same sound was there, a dull throbbing growing in noticeability.  It wasn't audible though, it was something she was feeling.  The more she tried to single it out, the more the feeling distorted from what it had been.

	Eventually she gave up trying to figure it out; resolving to the fact that her body seemed to have a mind of its own and was keeping secrets now.  Making her way into her living room, she plopped down on the couch, Anonymous sliding down into her vision.  Hanging upside down like that, his torso effectively blocked out everything else.  From her right eye anyways.  Try as she might to stay grumpy, she wound up snickering to herself.  When her horn reflected her mood once more, the sudden giggle-bells caught the human by surprise.

	Faster than expected, he was mushed against her belly, legs flopped out against her chest.  Blowing on his foot that had landed on her chin, he eventually squirmed down wound up beside her.  Sitting on the couch, making sure to keep at least a few inches of distance between himself and Vinyl, Anonymous took a sitting position and waited for her to move next.  He'd crossed a line, and he was her guest.  Whatever she deemed necessary, he would do to make up for earlier.  Somehow he felt responsible for her getting thrown out of the theater...

	All that trouble, and they didn't even make it past the first ten minutes of the movie.  So much for going out to see something... Though, she did have a decent DVD collection here; maybe they could continue the movie night?  It would be a nice cap to what had taken a strange turn for the evening.  Vinyl hopped off the couch, meandering over to a pile of unsorted DVDs that she'd watched who knows how long ago.  Digging through the pile she eventually found a movie that looked good.  Of course, it was only while her head was buried did she realize, through the reflection of the currently blank TV screen, that she was giving Anonymous a rather impressive view.

	Her cheeks burnt hot as the Sun while she slammed her tail down to cover her unmentionables.  If she kept this up, he was surely going to think she was a whore or something.  The movie was quick to start after that little revelation; Vinyl being extraordinarily happy to plant her behind back on the couch where it would hopefully stop being oogled by Anonymous.  At least that answered one question: pony relationships, or at the very least flanks, didn't appear to be out of the question for the human.

	Now she just had to figure out if she liked what she'd unintentionally done...

	Once the movie got past the intro ads, both Vinyl and Anonymous found themselves more interested in the distraction that presented itself.  Something about giant alien gorillas invading Equestria, and ponies building giant pony-robots to fight them.  Simple story - lots of smashy smashy action; but they both appeared to enjoy watching it.

	About half way through the film, a bucket of popcorn had been popped, and Anonymous was now comfortably snuggled up along Vinyl's flank.  Wasn't his fault, she'd pulled him there.  When the noise returned this time, Vinyl tried to ignore it and watch the movie.  This proved not so easy though, having been so pre-occupied with the sound earlier.  When the movie got to a certain scene, a realization dawned on her.  The scene was of a gorilla that had fallen, but not before taking a pony robot with it.  One of the pilots had been knocked to the side, and the movie had focused on her.  All other sounds began to muffle, until only her heartbeat could be heard.

	So that's why the sound was so familiar...

	No.  That couldn't be right.  Was her magic trying to tell her something?  Why would it wait until a gorilla versus robo-pony movie to do so?

	Did... did she love him?

	That can't be right.  She barely knew him!  Things would be moving way too quickly!  That 'love at first sight' is bullshit anyways!



	...right?

	The more she tried to focus on the movie and save the big heavy thoughts for later, the more her magic seemed to demand to be heard.  Repositioning herself to lay across the armrest of the couch, she stealthily propped her head up against a forehoof.  Anonymous had followed the repositioning, taking his own little spot away from Vinyl.  Where he was, should he choose to do so, he could get a rather magnificent view.  Vinyl knew this, but was more concerned with her horn making noise than anything.

	While he was distracted with the movie, she brushed her mane with a hoof, sneaking in a hard grind of her hoof against the offending magical appendage.  It hurt, but it was enough to stop the sound.  Sighing with a stinging relief, she returned her attention to how their positions on the couch had changed.  Unsure if she should be embarrassed for presenting herself to the human a second time in one night; or upset that he wasn't oogling her rear like every other stallion; she eventually settled for moving her tail to block any bits from showing.

	Still not comfortable with the view the human could achieve, Vinyl eventually found a new solution.  She gently scooped him up, holding him by his torso as she placed him in front of her on the couch.  Stretching out a bit more, the human accepted the invitation and stretched out along with her, resting against her belly.  Without really thinking, Vinyl started petting the human.  She didn't think of him as a pet, but it just seemed so... natural.

	"Uh, Vinyl?"

	The unicorns only response was a 'hum' from her horn and the creaking open of an eye.  She was just starting to drift off to sleep.

	"The movie's over."

	She stopped petting the human, now painfully aware that the 'background noise' that had been propagating the last twenty minutes or so was her horn.  Making that same sound.  Again.

	The sound her horn was making ended with a loud electrical fizzle sound.  Of course it would stop now.  But could she watch a movie in peace?  Nooooo.  Now the room was dead silent.  The TV had flipped back to the default DVD player screen, casting a pale blue glow onto the white unicorn and her little human.

	She continued to remain still.  Maybe if she acted like nothing was wrong the whole thing would go away?  No, that won't work.  It didn't work when she was a filly, and it didn't work now.  She was left with two options: react awkwardly and try to avoid talking about what happened, or... yeah, that probably was the better option.  It felt like it was anyways.

	The petting of the human resumed, Vinyl shifting a little so that one of her rear legs smushed him up against her belly more.  It had been a long time since she'd really snuggled anything.  If Octavia found out she was snuggling anything at all she would never let her live it down--

	Thoughts and thinking received a cease and desist right about then.  Had that train of thought continued, it would likely have de-railed the rest of her decision into what all terrible things Octavia would do to a pony that cuddled her human.  Instead, Vinyl was once more returned to the shocked state.  Her horn made another electrical pop, followed by a very faint high pitched bell sound.  The human had wrapped his arms around her upper belly and was hugging her back.

	Sleeping on the couch tonight meant a couple things.  When she woke up, her back and neck would probably be sore as hell.  She also got the feeling that when she did wake up, she would feel so disgustingly sweet that she would have to brush her teeth three times before breakfast to avoid diabetes.  No wonder Octavia was so protective of the human...





	Time is a funny... thing.  Element maybe?  No, that's not quite right.  A dimension maybe?  Who knows.  For now, time seemed to be Vinyl's enemy.  The more time she spent with the human, the more she wanted him to stay.  The more time she slept, him curled to her side, it seemed time would accelerate.  They would wake several hours later, nothing like her cat naps from before.  It was one of these very cat naps that brought to her attention the first weeks closure.

	One week.

	Half of her time with the human already taken from her.  And what did she have to show for it?  Sleeping, snuggling with the human to the point that she was almost disgusted with herself, and managing to stay locked up in her house even more than she did previously.

	And it was the most fun she'd had in ages.  No matter what she did, if she thought about something that they'd done before, in the previous week, she felt warm inside.  Just like those stupid romance novels that Tavi read.  Was she still in denial about any possible feelings for something that didn't even share her species?  Probably.  Vinyl's track record showed that it took some major events to get her to learn to appreciate something, usually losing the very thing she would come to appreciate.

	She hadn't been this emotionally confused in a while either... Lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling while thinking about good times she's had.  Even good times before anonymous, before she lost her voice; hell, before she met Tavi.  Lying in bed, thinking about how much she wanted to fall asleep so that she could start the next day with the human.  She wanted more of that disgustingly good feeling warmness, more of that... appreciation.  More time.

	Her most recent episode of staying up after Anonymous had passed out left her with troubling thoughts.  Those big, depression ridden thoughts that made you wonder.  What's the point?  This is only going to hurt in the end.  This was playing out just like one of Tavi's stupid romance novels, but she didn't see a happy end in this story.  No, she saw Tavi coming back and taking the human back home.  Vinyl's time would be even more limited with the human, if she was allowed any at all.

	Did Tavi feel for the human like she did?  Would she consider sharing maybe?  Would... would Vinyl want to share?  One week, and she had already made up her mind that she loved the human... right?  Rushing into decisions, just like she always did.  Hell, the rushing was probably part of what cost her the ability to speak so long ago.  And here she was again.  Caught in the midst of rushing right into another painful event.

	But she didn't stop.

	Something about the human's light snoring to her side made all of those nasty thoughts and prophecies wash away.  Right then; that very instance; he was right there.  No Tavi to come take him away, no time to whisk them apart, no stupid horn acting on its own to embarrass herself.  The gratuitous warmth and fuzziness that she felt; thinking about him and how he was hers, if only for the time being; made everything better.  Could she live with herself after he was gone though?

	After he was gone... The mind of a love stricken mare is a war zone, especially if she doesn't share her thoughts or feelings.  This effect is increased exponentially if the target or object of said warzone isn't aware there's a war.

	Unfortunately for everyone involved, this is exactly what Anonymous was.  He observed a fun, mute unicorn; one that was maybe more reserved than she appeared.  At first.  She wasn't the greatest at cooking, or the most aware of what poses her body would take when company was present.  Her muteness though; her very 'limitation' was something he would never forget.  She never 'said' a word, but she managed to speak volumes.  His time with her so far had been one of discovery, for the both of them.

	She discovered a way to communicate that was far easier and more natural to her than what she'd been doing.  He discovered feelings he didn't want.  Conflicting feelings, especially given how Octavia felt about him.  And now he was left with the difficult decision of what to do about it.  This... wasn't a problem he'd been expecting to encounter.  After meeting Octavia and staying with her, he had decided that he wouldn't voluntarily get attached to another mare.  Not like many would be very open to the idea, but still.

	Here he was though, getting those same feelings he did when he was with Tavi.

	Why couldn't he have just hated Vinyl?

	To any rational observer with a bit of common sense, the events of the weekend would've come as no surprise.  Vinyl, having tossed and turned so much that she put the human in his own bed, was clutching a pillow.  She was curled around it, defensively almost; clutching it so hard it looked like the pillow was going to scream.

	The small human on the other hand, was curled up in his own bed facing away from Vinyl.  He hadn't slept a wink.  The feelings he had discovered the night before were making for a volatile and rather upsetting mixture in the pit of his stomach.  Questions constantly assaulted his mind - trying to find a way where someone didn't come out feeling hurt.

	It wasn't going well.

	If he stayed with Vinyl, he would likely feel the guilt, if not betrayal, of ending everything that had built up between himself and Octavia.  If he went back home with Octavia, the mute mare that he'd spent the previous week with would probably be devastated, not to mention her friendship with Octavia.  The two were good friends, if not best friends, and he had managed to wedge himself between them.

	Maybe he was thinking too highly of himself?  Maybe Octavia didn't feel that strongly for him.  Maybe Vinyl was only crushing on him and didn't have deeper feelings.  Fuck it - maybe this was all some twisted dream and he'd wake up soon?

	Nah.  It's never that easy.

	Rolling over, he looked at the sleeping unicorn.  From the way her bed sheets had been strewn about, she hadn't fared much better than he had.  From his angle though, he didn't see the pillow clutched so tightly that Vinyl was going to ache when she woke up.  She looked peaceful amongst the chaos of the bed sheets.

	That settled it.  He had to know.  He didn't know what he had to know, he just knew that he needed to know it.  Of course, then we be the exact time she chose to roll over, finally relinquishing the pillow from her death grip.  Yawning, she stretched, reaching her fore hooves above her head as she arched her back, stretching her rear legs in unison.  Not soon after that she smacked her lips, finishing off the yawn as her body went limp.  A fore hoof draped over her face eventually fell down, her eyes opening slowly.

	Her red eyes gained focus at the rate of 'it's too weekend to get up,' gradually scanning the room.  Eventually they rested on Anonymous, dilating slightly.

	Of course she would smile.

	"That's cheating," he half said half yawned, the action just as contagious from a pony as it was from another human.  Sitting up, he weakly returned the smile, feigning sings of sleeping in hopes to avoid being questioned by her.

	A low, light thump, akin to a muffled bell, was the next sound to hit the room.  This was one of the many that Anonymous had deciphered fairly quickly, meaning something along the lines of a groggy hello or good morning.