g, g, g

  Mylo's ball smmed violently off the metal panel hanging just beyond the cou the Last Drop. Vi rawled out on the sofa, trying to solidate her thoughts iweeing off stress.

  Orion had gone back to his pce to ge clothes while the rest of the gang had go to get something to eat. She, however, had chosen to stay behind to brood.

  g, g, g

  Catg the ball mid-air, she sat up, hung forward with her forearms braced against her knees. Vi gritted her teeth, eyes darting bad forth over the ground as her grip tightened on the ball.

  "Everything was going fine," she thought bitterly. "Vander was starting to trust me- then he showed up."

  "Within a day he had Vander's ear. And apparently, he has his own jobs too!" Jealousy fred in her mind, throwing the ball back at the metal panel again, the sharp g ringing through the empty room. Each strike acted as a catalyst for her jealousy and rage until she finally u full force with a loud, eg sm that reverberated around the room.

  Vi stood up, huffing, and fists ched before colpsing bato the sofa with a depressed sigh.

  Despite her jealousy, she couldn't help but admire him to a degree. Vi smirked, and a faint smile crossed her face as memories of the alleyway fight and the Old Hungry fshed through her mind. An image lingered of the se of Orion standing over the corpse with a resolute demeanor, eerily remi of Vander.

  Admiration washed away into guilt and sadness. Vi pulled her legs in close, ing her arms around them and burying her head. "I had to be protected again- and I put Powder in danger..." she muttered bitterly.

  Her chest tightened as her mind wandered back to her behavior in the ring. The look on Orion's face, his bleeding figure as he left, all of this weighed down on her scious.

  "I hurt him again." Vi whispered, her voice crag. Tears fell from her cheeks as her heart and mind twisted with sadness a.

  "Tis' but a scratch!" A humorous voiterrupted, breaking through her tears.

  Vi filed wildly, startled, desperately trying to repose herself but it was too te. Her tear-stained fad puffy eyes looked up at Orion who leaned casually in the doorway, smirking faintly. She chuckled weakly between sobs, uo fully mask her embarrassment.

  "You weren't supposed to hear that," Vi said, her voice distorted with emotion. Orion desded the stairs and she hastily wiped her tears away, "Or see this." she added, her tone ced with frustration and vulnerability.

  Orion hadn't phis. After heading back to ge clothes, he performed healing on the worst of his cerations, auro the Last Drop with a growling stomach. He wao grab a bite to eat with the gang, hoping to mend some fri.

  Instead, he found Vi having a breakdown on the couch.

  His gaze shifted to Vi's bed with the saxophone and various singer posters lined up along the wall. The only one he reized from both memories was the Zaun Diva, Scratch. Shifting the versation, he asked in an amused but curious tone, "Gonna impress Scratch with some jazzy tunes?"

  "What?" Vi asked fused, tilting her head back toward her bed. "Oh, yeah." she sniffled, a small smile starting to creep onto her face.

  "I go to the certs whenever she pys. Her smaller gigs are supposedly better, but Vander won't let me go." She mimicked Vander's deep voice with a pyful snort. "When you're older."

  Vi chuckled softly, a faint smile lingering as she shook her head before looking back at Orion. Her eyes were still watery, but she looked far more rexed now.

  "I haven't been. Isn't her music more rod-roll? Screaming aallic guitar solos?" Orion asked, his casual tone revealing his ignorance as he sat down.

  Vi stared at him, disbelief written all over her face, before ung into a passionate expnation. "Are you kidding? Those are just the beats! Her music represents the heart and soul of the Uy! She doesn't scream just for the sake of it- she screams for us! Everyone who starved, died- or who've been crushed by topsiders!"

  She jumped up suddenly, her tone wavering as she retrieved her saxophone. Her voice softened, "It doesn't matter if it's a saxophone uitar. What matters is the message- and the hope for somethier. Why else do we fight?"

  A long silence followed. Orion sat there, his posture stiff, as her st words sank into his soul. His gaze drifted downward, and he questioned himself for the first time in awhile, "When was the st time I thought somethiely close to that?"

  His fiapped on the armchair while at a loss for words, and his voice came out a hushed whisper. "Why don't you show me? I'd like to see it."

  Vi flicked a gnce back at Orioating for a moment, before sitting down, her back straight and shoulders rexed. He'd never heard a solo saxophone py before and was intrigued- until she started to py.

  It was simir to someone who was trying to learn how to py the trumpet for the first time. Uo join together notes, disjointed and unpleasant on the ear. She tried making it soulful, drawing out some notes and putting forto others, but it was still a cacophony.

  Orion could tell she was trying though. He put up a facade, smiling and nodding whenever she gnced up nervously, searg for reassurance.

  For a moment, he thought he heard something through the gave up as Vi started to pick up the beat and volume, sighing internally as he resigned himself to the chaotic performance.

  ------------------------

  "Vi's honking again!" Powder excimed loudly and in an accusatory tone, g her hands over her ears as she stood just ihe entrao the Last Drop.

  "Who's going to tell her to stop this time?" Cggor asked worriedly, sending a pointed g Mylo. "I did it st time."

  Sighing in frustration, Mylo ran a hand down his fad groaned, "Fine, I'll stop her- before we go deaf."

  With Mylo leading the charge, they made their way to the stairway that led down to the rooms. The cacophony was deafening at this proximity. Yet, just before the open door in the dim light, Vaood leaning against the wall, arms crossed. A faint, knowing smirk tugged at his lips as he raised a fio his lips, hushing the group.

  Mylo came to a stop, hands raised upward in fusion as he peeked ihe room. His expression shifted to a wide-eyed "Oh" before quickly stepping back.

  Cggor and Powder did the same, with Cggor's eyebrows raising before he retreated silently. Powder was a little more noisy, barely able to stifle a giggle as she cmped one hand over her mouth while the other remained firmly pressed to her ear.

  She plopped herself oeps, shoulders shaking as she struggled to tain her bubbling ughter.

  ------------------------

  Ringing, his ears wouldn't sting. By the time Vi stopped pying and silence graced the room with its presence, Orion was mentally aionally drained. Carefully, he exhaled through his nose, careful not to let Vi notice the relief washing over him as she sat there, lost in mencholy.

  "I'm sorry Orion," Vi said softly, her toinged with sadness. "Just like with this saxophone... I'm not a very good leader. And I was jealous..."

  "Ah- Er..." Orion fumbled, struggling tain his posure and caught off guard by her sudden vulnerability. He slowly spoke up in a gentle, reassuring tohat's not true- well, outside of the saxophone. You are what I ck."

  A brief smile flickered across her face before she gnced up at him. "How so?"

  Orioated for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "People look up to their leaders, right?" he asked rhetorically. After a pause, he tinued, "Why's that? Because the leader represents what they believe in- what they want most- but more strongly and openly. They express the hearts and minds of everyone around them."

  He leaned forward slightly off of his chair, his tone measured. "A leader with a cause but no smarts, might falter. But a leader who has smarts but no passion or e to people's desires? Many would ignore you, wanting their desires aions fulfilled first."

  Sighing, he leaned bato the armchair, his gaze distant. "Deade by the tter be cold and withard to people, drawing ire despite having a simir cause. Also, what or who determihat you're 'smart,' anyway?" His voice drifted off at the end, his gaze wahe ceiling before returning to Vi.

  Vi's brows furrowed in thought as she clutched her saxophoightly, takiime abs the onsught of words. It took a few moments before she gave a wry smirk, her tone deliberate but with a pyful touch, "Back to the old patiend think before you act, huh?"

  Orion just shrugged, his head flopping back against the armchair as he heard a barely audible "Thanks..."

  What happened was far from what he expected. Vi put down her saxophone and strode over to him with a purpose. Worried by the sudden movement, and stood up abruptly, his muscles tensing in anticipation of something. But instead, he found himself embraced in a sudden, tight hug.

  "Thank you, I'm sorry for everything," Vi whispered, her tone genuine and filled with remorse.

  Orion froze, arms awkwardly out at his sides, ly reciprog the embrace. He felt stiff from this emotional outburst, patting her head as some way to offer fort back. "Ah- it's alright. We're good nht?"

  Orio her head nod against his chest before, just as suddenly, she pulled away. He tried to catch her expression, but she was already striding toward the exit, leaving him perplexed and fused.

  From outside the door he heard a mix of noises from Vi's "Weirdos" to giggling, a deep rumbling ugh, and the sound of shuffli.

  "Ah, the gang heard," he thought, amused.