This story takes place in the land of Gamindustri. It is a land where technology has advanced enough that it could turn into a sci-fi horror flick at any moment. A place where simple matches of volleyball look like scenes ripped straight out of an action movie. A world protected by four Goddesses who are personifications of video game consoles.
It is a chaotic world to live in indeed, but even despite the ever looming threat of drills flying out from nowhere and destroying a man's (REDACTED) the people have adapted to live here nonetheless. Even with monsters roaming the land the people have struggled and survived and have now come to live much more comfortable lives under the protection of its guardian Goddesses.
There are 4 major nations in this world, each watched over by different Goddesses, but this particular story takes place in Planeptune, so who cares about the other three!
Our story today takes place in a gathering of book lovers and consumers of literature alike. A book convention where many renowned authors gather to do book signings and talk about future projects with their fans and overall just a fun time for anyone that's a fan of the written word.
There was a long line of people to get inside the building, but among them there was one girl in particular who stood out among all of them. A young redhead with a light blue scarf draped around her neck and flowing majestically in the wind. Her excitement was clear from the smile on her face as she held a peculiar book in her hands as the line slowly trudged along. The cover depicted a black silhouette of some sort of yeti-like creature with horns and was titled "Silent Giant".
It was finally after some odd minutes of waiting that the girl's patience was rewarded and she was allowed passage inside. She couldn't help but stop for a moment to look around and appreciate how many people were gathered today, but that only lasted but a moment. She looked back down at the book in her hands and reminded herself of why she had come in the first place.
Filled with determination, the redhead made her way around the building, casting the occasional glance to all the authors chatting away with fans. She continued to walk for a few minutes until she caught sight of what she was after. Off in the distance was a small, unassuming table set up with a white sign set up on top of it with the supposed pen name of a certain author written on it. Underneath the name was a note specifying the time by which said author would arrive to meet with fans and have his fur fluffed... What an odd thing to put on a note.
"Oh, hey! Other me!" The girl looked to her side to see a person who looked very much like herself waving at her, approaching her with a smile. She waved back politely before standing up to greet the woman. "Fancy meeting you here. Are you here to meet one of the writers meeting here today?" The older woman asked politely.
"Yes, actually," The girl said, holding up the book in her hands for her friend to see. "I heard that the author of this book was going to be here today, so I wanted to stop by and see what they're like."
"Oh? I think I remember hearing about this book before," The older woman said as she looked over the story's pages.
"Have you read it?"
"I haven't had much time to check it out, actually. Is it good?"
"Yeah! It's so much better than I expected it to be. You should definitely check it out sometime."
"Maybe I will." With that, the older woman closed the book and handed it back to the shorter redhead. "I have heard some stuff about the author, though. Well, I guess that's not entirely true," She corrected.
"What do you mean?"
"Well… Truth is, nobody really knows anything about the author," The older redhead said, earning her a curious stare from the shorter of the two. "I tried looking up their name once in my spare time, but I came up with nothing. Nobody really knows what this person looks like or even their real name is. It's been a pretty big mystery so far in the world of literature. I'll admit, when I heard they'd finally show up for this event I actually got kind of interested myself. Actually, it looks like a lot of people here showed up because of them."
The shorter redette looked around curiously, paying rapt attention to the people around her. At first, she didn't find anything off until she started noticing a few small details. Several people were staring at their watches, or nearby clocks hung on walls. Many people talking to other authors also kept shooting continuous glances at the empty desk every now and again, as well. Perhaps the young redhead may have been imagining things, but given what she'd just been told, it felt like it fit too well to be a coincidence.
"I never knew this author was so mysterious. I just read this book and saw a post about them online saying they'd be here."
"It's understandable that you didn't know," The older woman said. "He is a fairly new author, and his works thus far have been published in this world's Planeptune, so he's not as well-known in other lands. Of course, I say "he," but I don't even know if they are a man or a woman… Oh hey, it looks like they'll be here any second." The older woman briefly looked over to a nearby clock, followed by the younger girl to see that the time almost matched the time written on the sign on the table.
It was then that the majority of people all sprang to life and made their way hastily to the table with cameras and phones at the ready. They practically swarmed the table with a mob mentality of sheep, almost squashing the two redheads. Thankfully, they were somehow able to make it to the front of the herd. They didn't know how, but they did.
"It's finally time! We need to score an interview with them, Dengekiko!"
"I know, Famitsu! We can't let this opportunity go to waste!"
"I must meet this author so I can express my gratitude! Their works have awakened my wavering flames of Justice!"
I wonder if this author's a cute girl? Ooh, I wonder if they'd want to be my wifey!"
"Gust could make fortune for disclosing author's identity… Heheheh."
"What do you think they'll be like, Cave? I hope they're nice."
"There's no need to be so nervous, 5pb. I'm sure they'll be just like anyone else."
"Do you think this author would be willing to become my own personal scribe, Cheekama? A good king needs a good writer!"
"Given your track record, you might just scare them off, Milli."
Anticipation began to build as the seconds passed. The young redhead looked behind her and was surprised to see so many familiar faces waiting alongside her as well. Apparently, this author was a pretty big deal if so many notable characters wanted to see them, too. That made her feel more than a bit nervous, but her older friend gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder and a calm smile to help make her feel better.
Seconds turned into minutes, and soon enough, the place became deathly silent. A coin dropping would have probably sounded like a missile right about now. The silence did not last long, however, as the sound of footsteps broke through the silence. Everyone looked around to try and find the source, but none could find hide nor hair of the source. Eventually, all heads snapped back to the table as a new individual appeared seemingly out of nowhere with a chair in tow and sat themselves down, crossing their legs on the table.
"Wassup bitches!" The gray-skinned individual said in a punkish tone.
"Underling?!" Someone could be heard screaming from in the crowd. "You're the mysterious author?!"
"What? Were you expecting someone else?" She replied in an almost annoyed tone of voice.
"You better believe it, Chump!" A second voice said from somewhere. All of a sudden, a large, black mouse jumped on top of the table and gave an amused smirk at all the bewildered expressions from amidst the crowd. "We're the ones who wrote those books, Chump."
"I refuse to believe someone as brazen as you could write like that!"
"You said it, Milli. What a letdown."
"Believe what you want to believe," The girl said with a smirk. "But I'm the one responsible for all those books. And since I don't like to show myself in public, I'd say I should get some sort of fee for showing myself here like this. Now, pay up!"
"What a scam artist! I suppose she's gonna make us pay for an interview, too."
"I wouldn't put it past her. Let's just let everyone know to steer clear of her, Famitsu."
The mood from earlier had suddenly turned for the worst. In the midst of all this newfound chaos, a newcomer was trying to make their way through the crowd, going mostly unnoticed due to the outcry from everyone. Our hero, all the while stared at her fellow redhead with a disbelieving stare.
"There's no way this person can be the author, right?"
"Well..." The older redhead began. "The only thing that really is known about the author is that they're pretty good at martial arts. And I've also heard that they have a relation to the color yellow. The ASIC logo does have both yellow and red, so maybe this is what that meant." The older girl's expression shifted into a displeased one as she stared down the greenette with crossed arms. "I hate to say it, but it looks like she does fit the criteria. Maybe not so much the martial arts part, but some authors do tend to exaggerate."
"I wasn't exaggerating about nothin'! I'm just that awesome!" The greenette declared, crossing her arms behind her head. "So, you guys gonna pay up or not? I've got better things to do with my time, so get lost if you're not gonna… Huh…?"
As our young heroine's features shifted in a frown, she felt something nudging at her legs. She took a step back unwittingly as another mouse appeared from seemingly out of nowhere. This mouse was noticeably bigger than the one accompanying the foul greenette with large ears and a lightning bolt-shaped tail. The creature grabbed the edges of the table and promptly pulled itself up, coming face to face with the duo of trouble-makers and earning the attention of everyone nearby.
"Huh? Who the heck is this? You know him, Pirachu?"
"Never seen him before in my life, Chump!" The black mouse exclaimed. He stared at the taller mouse with a challenging stare, as if annoyed by the bigger's seemingly frozen, stoic expression. "Huh? What do you want, Chump?! You gonna start something or what?"
Everyone stared at the yellow mouse with baited breath. A majority of the crowd watched on in concern.
"The hell do you want? If you got nothin to say, then scram!"
"You heard the lady! Get lost if you know what's good for ya!"
Despite the threats, the tall mouse remained as stoic as ever, unfazed by the duo of troublemakers.
"Grrr! That's it! I warned you! You asked for this!" Finally becoming fed up with the stoic mouse, the con artist formerly known as Pirachu jumped forward, ready to strike!
"Wait! Get back!" Our young heroine reached out a hand to the yellow creature. The greenette watched on with a smirk as her partner in crime moved in for an attack. The crowd all watched on in fear for the poor creature, when suddenly-
"Take thi- What the- AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
"What the fu- GAH?!"
Eyes widened and jaws dropped at the scenes that had just played out. Just as Pirachu was about to attack the yellow mouse, the creature grabbed him arm with cat-like reflexes and the precision of a cobra and spun him around before tossing him at the Underling's face, sending them both flying backwards in shock.
Soon after they fell, Underling sat up, staring at the 3-foot mouse still standing on the table in disbelief. "The hell just happened?" She uttered.
"Must have been… a fluke… Chump," Pirachu said in an attempt to make sense of the situation. "Chu?!" The duo of misfits scampered back in surprise as the yellow mouse lifted a hand and motioned for them to come at him, stoically. "Don't you look down on, Chump! We're ASIC's greatest- CHU?!"
The yellow mouse stepped forward, causing the two hooligans to scamper back even further. Its stoic expression suddenly seemed all the more menacing to the two, making them sweat heavily. And when it took another step forward…
"Screw this! I'm out! I'm not dying to a freaking mouse!"
"Chu?! Hey, wait up! Don't leave me behind, Chump!"
"You snooze, you lose!"
Everyone watched in amazement as the two ASIC misfits took off running for the hills. With them gone, the stoic mouse hopped off the table and fixed the chair before hopping on top of it, producing a pen from within its fur as it stared forward at the crowd. The whole group was so confused that none could find any words to say in this moment, until finally, our heroine found her tongue.
"E-Excuse me..." She timidly began. "A-Are you by any chance… The author of this book?" She finally asked. "Are you the author Draco?"
Her answer came in the form of a nod 'yes'. Needless to say, but they all shared a very surprised reaction.
"HUUUUUUUHHHHH?!" What a lovely harmony of ear-splitting soprano.
"Then..." The girl began once again. "Could you by chance… Sign my book?" The mouse answered by clicking his pen with another nod. "Thank you so much! Can you please make this one out to Falcom? I really loved your story!"
The mouse did as was requested and gave Falcom a signature. Surprisingly, the creature's cursive was a little sloppy, but Falcom didn't care. She was just happy to get a signature from this author of an amazing book.
"Thank you so much! I hope you keep writing in the future!" With her sign obtained the young redhead ran off gleefully. Her older counterpart smiled knowingly as she watched the girl take off. For a second, it had looked almost as if the mouse's lips curved upwards into a smile slightly, going unnoticed by all but himself.
Gamindustri was a truly bizarre world indeed.
The Author's Spirit!
Friends, hello and welcome to this little side series of comedic one-shots. If I can at least make you chuckle while reading this nonsensical little stories, then I've accomplished my goal.
So, since this is just a fun little series, it will be updated irregularly, so don't expect the same schedule for this as all my other stories. With that being said, I am also open to suggestions for possible one-shot ideas. As such, if you want to leave suggestions for ideas and characters you'd like to see in them, let me know via review or PM, if you so desire, and if I like the idea, then I'll see what I can do with it. And if you want to see more of my self-insert OC I'd be okay with that as well.
So yeah, that'll pretty much be all for this particular chapter. Stay tuned for the next chapter, cuz I've got some fun stuff in mind for that one.
Next time on Shenanigans:
Segula Vs Draco! (Special thanks to YuriLover567 for actually letting me use his OC. Be sure to check him out as well, if you are so inclined.)
Bring the hype! #StoicAuthorFaceOfDestiny!