Note: This is an experimental writing to help me develop some characters for my novel, Empire of Sin. Therefore, it will be very OC-driven. XD Also, EoS involves a lot of complex politics that I haven't researched yet, so in this some political decisions are pretty weak. This is just because this story is for the characters, not to practice with the plot. :3
"You can't be serious."
"Oh, but I can."
"You're crazy."
"I thought that was obvious." Alexandria Martin closed the laptop with a grin and crossed her arms, more amused than she should have been with her boss's deadpan expression. "But you know as well as I do that the only thing Americans love more than aliens is the internet." He frowned, barely convinced, but still reluctantly nodded.
"So what you're saying is instead of negotiating more funds from the government we should get support for Project Avalon using a comedy show run by a few teenagers?" he clarified for himself.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Unless you have any better ideas?"
Robert was silent, debating the possible results of her idea. Best-case scenario, the Project becomes public worldwide and more investments would be made into the research taking place there. Worst-case, the Project loses its confidentiality for nothing. If that were to happen who knows what kind of interference would occur—he could picture it now, billionaires with nothing to spend their money on anymore providing themselves with private flights in and breaking the agreement established with the gods that humans would enter and leave Avalon only with their approval beforehand.
Of course there was no denying that in a nation like the United States it would be important for the wealthier citizens to know of the project, since private donations seemed necessary to continue research on its current scale. "Do we even have the authority to do something like that?" he thought out loud, feeling slightly stupid when he remembered that he ultimately controlled the actions affecting Project Avalon.
"I know you didn't come to me first. Who else did you show this plan to?"
"Just High Lord Sin." It unsettled the vampire hunter greatly how close she was to the blood-sucking monsters, but it was her job after all as their human representative. "But I'm pretty sure he was more focused on the computer."
Someone had to be rational; this suggestion was ludicrous. "Suppose we go to America and present our case like this. We're going to not only risk losing support because we'll be surrendering our secrecy, but we're most certainly going to look like idiots unless we have some pretty solid proof.
"Then we'll take a vampire. Contrary to your belief, they're actually intelligent enough not to go on murderous rampages and kill all humanity." The blue-haired diplomat had a point, but he refused to admit it. "If you don't go for it I will, and then the vampires will be the ones getting all the support," she declared in a singsong voice.
"Fine." He finally decided that surrendering would be better than watching her more than likely pester the rest of his colleagues into going along with an improvised version of her idea. He stood up and picked up his western-style hat from the coffee table. "You get to convince the High Lord to leave Avalon though."
"Sure."
"You're lucky I'm not putting you in charge of negotiating on our side."
"Pfft. You're funny, Robert," she snickered. "I know you wouldn't let me handle anything important with the humans. You think I'm the incarnation of idiocy and evil." She stood up too, handing him the computer. "Make sure you show them this, alright?"
"This has to be your dumbest idea yet."
"Yeah, but you're the one going along with it."
Working everything out with the humans took weeks—every bit of data they could find on every show, televised or streamed online, was analyzed several times over to determine exactly which would be the most influential programs to present the Avalonian plight to the American citizens. Several news networks were targeted, though it was decided that they would be better convinced by workers staying in the country at first, and based on the information gathered Alexandria's original choice of a comedic web-show seemed to be a good asset too. Somehow. At least a majority of the dying organization agreed that a public reveal was the best of the last-resort ideas they had devised.
As for the vampires, they were much easier to persuade. Alex managed to get High Lord Horatio Sin Ambrosius to come after barely three days (leaving in charge his older brother, Lord Sebastien), though she refused to tell Robert exactly how. He proceeded to grudgingly write up an official contract with the vampire that would guarantee he acted properly, and he signed it after the hunter added a clause promising that he too would be on his best behavior.
"Oh, hi Daddy," Toya greeted when Robert pushed open the front door. He threw his hat and dirt-brown trench coat on the rack. "You're back early." She closed her textbook and lay down the pencil she was holding.
"We're almost finished working everything out." She shifted a bit uncomfortably in her chair. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no. Nothing."
"Really?" He doubted that, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.
"Hey, did you talk to Alex today?"
"No, why?"
"Hehe… She has this funny story to tell you."
"Where is this coming from?"
"Nowhere. With a sigh he sat down at the wooden dining room table and stared at her. "You could call her, you know. So she can explain this all to you. That would be good."
"For the love of Alfrothul… what'd she do now?"
"She… uh… may or may not have possibly maybe might have kind of promised a certain figure of power that's key to this mission that I would be going with you guys."
"She did what?"
"He wouldn't go otherwise!"
"Why not?"
"Because he hates you, and he's not really excited about being dragged onto a plane." The hunter wasn't quite sure how to respond. He wasn't very keen on going anywhere with the vampire, but he couldn't see how Toya going would change anything. They did always seem just a bit too close though… No, there was absolutely no way his daughter would ever see a vampire as anything more than a political partner. "It wasn't my idea, anyway. I mean, they didn't force me, but he requested that I go too and…"
"And?"
She blushed. "…He's really, really cute…" That nearly gave him a heart attack.
"TOYA, VAMPIRES ARE NOT 'CUTE'!"
She flinched a bit. "Um, Dad, my teenage hormones don't care if he's a vampire or not; he's cute."
He tried to ignore that, focusing more on the fact that she was avoiding eye contact. "Look at me for a minute," he ordered.
"Um… I'd rather not, thanks."
"Toya." She very reluctantly looked up at him. There was a distinct touch of violet in her blue irises, just as he had suspected, and he narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. "I thought I told you not to let him drink from you again!"
"Well… you did… but he was hungry, and I didn't want him to have to leave to go eat. Especially since he's been tutoring me for free and all. And it feels pretty good…'
"You won't be saying that when he turns you into a vampire."
"No, I probably will- wait, what? Dad, he's not going to do that!" she defended, finally processing what he'd said.
"You can't be sure of that."
She exhaled deeply with exasperation, knowing that there was no convincing him otherwise. "Fine, I'll be more careful. But I'm not promising anything; he'll need someone to feed him in America, and I doubt Alex will volunteer for that."
"That-"He muttered something under his breath, deciding it best to change the topic before he started a full-blown argument. "So, have you been studying up on this trip?"
"Nope."
"I think you might actually enjoy it. I'll have a full report by tomorrow; I'll let you read it then."
"Okay."
The hunter stood up and pushed in the chair, walking into the kitchen and out into the hall. He was very anxious to see how things turned out- there were so many ways things could go wrong, but at the same time a new window of opportunity would be opened if it was successful.
Days flew by. In what seemed like barely a few moments, though in reality an entire year had passed, all of the smallest issues had been worked out, and soon enough it was time for the party to depart. Bags were packed and the vampire was accounted for- unfortunately, he refused to leave behind his sword, dragon-wing shoulder pads, and violet cape, though it wasn't like it was a lot to ask to bring a few things from home, no matter how unusual.
They gathered at the airport, all of them very nervous for the flight. It would be Toya's first time leaving Avalon, and the first time a non-human ever ventured beyond the island's edge. The plane was already prepared for them to get on as they arrived.
Robert and Alexandria followed behind the 'kids' into the cabin after their luggage had been taken care of. Sin was going on 59 years old, but even for a vampire hunter it was difficult to remember that when looking at someone with the face of an 18-year-old boy. Just another reason he found vampires detestable.
He frowned when his daughter sat beside the raven-haired High Lord, but he didn't bother protesting. At least she was having fun, and nothing could happen when he was sitting two rows back and watching them. "Toya, I'm scared," the monster admitted, fixing his glasses. She laughed, grabbing his hand and squeezing it as if to comfort him.
"You'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" His enormous pointed ears drooped back.
"Positive."
"Hey Robert, you're making a scary face. Stop glaring at them, would you?" Alex made him snap back to reality.
"What? Oh, sorry..." he muttered, still half-focused on them. "This is going to be a long flight, isn't it...?"
"Well, for you maybe. I'm going to take a nap," she declared, looking slightly disappointed at the solid black windows. That was the best solution to the sunlight for the vampire.
"How are you so relaxed at a time like this?"
"There's no use panicking over it. Might as well have some fun."
He sighed, taking off his hat and setting it in his lap. "I guess you've got a point."
The vampire spent the first half of the trip panicking loudly, making it hardly bearable, though eventually Toya managed to calm him down and Robert took Alex's advice. Sin and Toya couldn't sleep, so they spent a majority of the ride discussing all of the strange things they'd learned about America—fortunately, besides a few tone formality differences, both countries spoke English as the primary language, so communication wouldn't be too hard, but they were still fully aware that there would be plenty of lifestyle changes to get used to. The mission was set for a year, to ensure that they had enough time to get adjusted and hopefully accomplish their desperate goal.
"My first time leaving the country… I'm so excited~," Toya cheered, trying to keep her voice down as not to disturb the adults.
"I find America quite the intriguing place. I wonder if it will be as interesting as the books made it sound…"
"You have to remember to be careful, though; you're definitely able to attract a crowd." He blushed a bit. "I wonder what sort of things we can do once we get there. Alex and my dad are taking care of most of the mission."
"Hopefully we'll be able to find some time alone, then," the vampire whispered to her, smiling. The red in his cheeks darkened a bit. Fortunately, Robert hadn't caught on that they'd been dating for several months, otherwise there was no way Toya would have been allowed to come. Actually, it wasn't so much that as "there was no way Sin would be living", but the huntress preferred not to think about that too much.
"I'm sure we will; we've got an entire year, and we'll be living together." He blinked, confused. "Didn't Alex tell you? We're going to be staying in Seattle. The Association decided it would be easiest if we just rented an apartment for the year there, so we're in the same building as that web show."
"I just hope that Mister Anderson will allow me to enter the same living space as you," he joked, gently putting his hand on hers on her lap and smiling with one fang poking out in the corner of his mouth.
"I'll probably be sharing a room with Alex, so I'll leave it up to you two to figure that out. But try to not kill each other, okay?" She glanced behind them to make sure no one was looking before leaning over and pecking his cheek, quickly sitting up afterward. One of the flushed vampire's ears stood straight up, the other laying almost flat. Toya was quite tempted to poke one, but she knew it made him uncomfortable and refrained from doing so.
"Fine, fine. I will do my best to control myself. But I would much rather stay with you." She was sure they would end up sharing a room anyway, based on Robert's previous obliviousness. Of course, there was still the issue of explaining to him their relationship as per the plan they had concocted beforehand, though at least on an important out-of-Avalon mission he wouldn't be able to enact his full rage on them. 'Who knows,' Toya thought to herself, 'maybe by the time we go home he'll be okay with it.'
"Don't hold your breath, hon. If it'll be that hard for you, I can always room with my dad, but that's up to you."
He inhaled deeply and sighed. "No, I believe I'll be alright. Mr. Anderson is scared of me, after all," the vampire joked, glancing at the covered plane window. "I wonder how much longer it will be?"
"Not too much longer now. Maybe four hours, speaking of which, I'm going to get some sleep."
By the time the plane landed, Robert had managed to relax himself for the most part. They got to the airport on schedule, with plenty enough moonlight to get them to the apartment building.
It took a bit of coaxing to get Sin to get into the cab hired by the Project prior to departure, since, while they did have cars in Avalon, he had never ridden one, but with a touch of effort they finally convinced him it was no more dangerous than the plane. He was glued to the window, despite the slight case of motion-sickness he developed along the way, and Toya was as well; she'd been in a car once before, but she was too young to really remember it. Alexandria and Robert were much more acquainted with that mode of transportation since they had to travel more frequently, but Alex was still recovering from the flight so she was almost silent for the entire drive to the towering apartment building they were renting from.
"Well, we're here," Robert muttered as the driver pulled to a stop in front of the impressive structure, unclasping his seat belt and climbing out of the vehicle. He opened the door for Alex, watching Sin out of the corner of his eye as he helped Toya exit with a slight bow of his head. He and the vampire took the heaviest cases out of the trunk, Alex and Toya grabbing a few slightly smaller ones. They unloaded the car quickly, all of them thankful to finally have arrived, and approached the building somewhat nervously.
Upon entering, all four of them were equally disturbed. Muffins—or at least, the remains of muffins—were caked all over the walls and the floor, with a ton of confetti strewn throughout the mess. The doorman, meanwhile, was having a conniption behind his desk, seeming even more frustrated with the odd-looking party that had just arrived.
"And that concludes our first ever LIVE webcast of 'Messin' with Lewbert!'" Sin cringed at the shouting, even more so when another one of the room's current occupants, a blond-haired girl holding a blue device, gestured toward him. "And it looks like now it's time for the freak parade."
Toya looked at her father, seemingly unfazed by the alienating glances that the girl and her two companions, one of which was equipped with a large camera, were giving the group. She identified the three teens as the ones they'd decided to contact for the reveal.
"Hey dad, that's them, right?" she whispered to him, answered simply with a nod. "Hey guys, cool it with the camera around him," the huntress added defensively, pushing them away from Horatio. His ears bent back and he took a step closer to her and Alex nervously.
"Anddd… before things get any weirder here, that's all for iCarly!" the darker haired girl said quickly, waving to the camera. The boy quickly turned it off, all three of them now focused on the newcomers, who had however already gone to the elevator as per their directions to the new apartment.
Sin and Robert, who hadn't exactly been very confident about the trip in the first place, seemed equally unnerved by their first experience in America, both of them giving awkward glances to Toya and Alexandria. Toya seemed more amused than anything, though, and was actually looking forward to her first international mission even more now that they'd arrived.
All four of them new, however, that it was going to be a long trip.
/AN/ Finished… after four months of procrastination XD So, again I'd like to point out I'm in this for the writing practice, not the plot. Because honestly revealing a government secret like Project Avalon in this manner would be very stupid. :3
It's gonna take a while for me to get into writing the iCarly crew, so please bear with me D: They're very... not what I'm used to.