LWA Secret Santa Prompt: A Sulotte VR Date.
For: KentaMisaka
Lotte leaned back against her chair, took out a small harp from her satchel, and began to strum a few notes in harmony with the soft flute-like melody that played throughout the village. Lotte then looked down and smiled as her fledgling owl familiar, Belle, lay atop the table, wing resting atop a full stomach.
"I wonder what's taking Akko so long," Lotte pondered as she lightly rubbed the full belly of her familiar, who had long-since begun to sleep. "We were supposed to meet here an hour ago."
"Knowing Akko, she probably forgot. Wouldn't put it past her."
Lotte looked up at her seatmate, who was garbed in a witch's robe and sipping away at a mushroom smoothie. Atop her companion's head, the words "Poison Mushroom Sucy" spun around slowly.
"Sucy, she isn't that bad," Lotte chuckled as she waved her hand at her friend.
"Just saying," Sucy shrugged, "Akko would be late for the Christmas event quest that she wanted to take."
Before Lotte could respond however, the ambient town music muted down to a hush, replaced by a persistently loud beep. From the corner of her eyes, Lotte could see a blinking red icon, one in the shape of a person. Lotte glanced at Sucy and was immediately met with her friend's soft, red eyes. Sucy shook her head, but a muted smile was on her face.
Clearly Sucy had also gotten the same alert. She turned away from the cafe towards the streams of people walking past it, but not before sending a glance and a quick nod Lotte's way.
Lotte smiled in return. She followed Sucy's lead, turning towards the path, and slowly reached out towards the top right of her screen, right towards the icon that was, now, flashing several times per second.
Once Lotte tapped the blinking icon, the music in the town died down completely, and a screen immediately appeared in midair. At its center, a bright line spun quickly in a small circle.
As the message continued to load, Lotte placed Belle on her lap and rested against her chair. She gently scratched her familiar's chin, and she chuckled as Belle cooed against her leg.
Seems like this message was taking quite a while to loa-
"GUYS I'M SO SORRY!"
Lotte's eyes shot open, and her heart nearly burst out of her chest as Akko's voice exploded in her ears. Belle, similarly, sprang off from her lap and immediately hid behind her head to hide from Akko, who was now visible on the floating screen.
"I SWEAR I DIDN'T MEAN TO BE LATE!" Akko continued to scream. Upon closer look, Lotte could see that Akko appeared to be… a bit more flustered and disheveled than usual. "It's just… well, I got Diana the Nova System VR as a gift for the holidays! And I was going to help her set it up tonight but… uhm…."
"Akko! Do I plug this wire here or…"
Akko turned away from the screen, and her eyes popped out of her head.
"No! Diana, don't!" Akko quickly turned back to the screen. "I gotta go! Uhm, I'll try to be back in maybe an hour or two. Sorry again! See you two later!"
And just like that, the screen disappeared, and the soft timbre of a flute began to play once again.
"Well…" Lotte blinked at the screen for a moment before turning back to Sucy, "I guess we have an hour or two?"
"Selfish as usual," Sucy sighed, though she quickly broke into a mischievous grin. "Though, I guess I should thank her. Diana figuring out technology…" Quickly, Sucy broke into a bright cackle, "I wish I could have seen it."
Lotte joined in with a giggle of her own.
After all, Diana never was good with anything electronic…
After a few more moments of laughter, the both of them calmed down and were now relaxing against the backrests of their chairs.
Lotte turned towards Sucy and tilted her head. "Well, what do you want to do while waiting?"
"I was probably going to go offline for a bit," Sucy shrugged. "Not much we can do without our tank around. You remember what happened the last time we tried to do a dungeon without her?"
Lotte felt a chill run up her back and nodded.
She could still remember the screeches of thousands of bats overwhelming the both of them.
"Don't remind me," Lotte joked, but she knew her lips were already curled into a pained smile. "It's really easy to get overwhelmed by mobs in this game."
"Akko is really useful for taking hits for us," Sucy said. "Without her, there isn't really much we can do here… unless you had something in mind?"
Lotte sighed. It's not like Sucy was wrong… Based on the way the three of them had chosen their skills… this game wasn't very fun without Akko.
Still… Lotte was really looking forward to spending time with Sucy and Akko… the former especially. If anything, Akko being late because she was helping Diana was actually a blessing. After all, Lotte never really got the chance to spend a lot of time with Sucy without Akko being around. Though, as much as she wanted to, it was true that they couldn't really do anything without Akko in this gam-
"Wait!" Lotte jumped out of her seat and turned towards Sucy. "I've got an idea!"
"Hm?"
"What about the Nightfall game I gifted you and Akko?" Lotte asked. "We can play there while waiting..." Lotte trailed off, a feeling of nervousness coming over her, when she saw Sucy's red eyes looking back at her, "... if you want?"
Sucy only continued to stare at Lotte, further causing butterflies to rumble around in her stomach. And as the seconds ticked by, Lotte could feel her stomach begin to turn more and more.
So, maybe Nightfall Online wasn't the best idea. After all, Lotte only got the game for Sucy and Akko on the off chance they would ever want to play it with her. It's not as if Sucy had ever really shown any interest in the novel serie-
"Okay," Sucy finally said, and Lotte felt herself let out a breath she hadn't realize she was holding. "I'll see you there in a bit."
"O-oh, okay!" Lotte stammered. "I-I'll see you there!"
Sucy nodded, and in an instant, she disappeared in a beam of light. Lotte smiled to herself before fractically tapping a few more icons floating above her, and followed suit, logging off from Luna Nova Online.
When Lotte got up in her room, she couldn't take the headgear off of her head and change the game fast enough.
Half an hour later, however, and Lotte found herself lying down on the bench of the main village and counting the number of stars floating up in the night sky as she waited. She knows Sucy wouldn't just ditch her… but Lotte couldn't help but wonder what was taking so long.
Lotte opened up her menu and looked to her friend's list, only to see that Sucy was online and was playing Nightfall Online. However, when she saw the playtime listed underneath Sucy's name, Lotte chuckled.
That made sense.
She tapped on Sucy's name and a list of actions appeared in front of her. Lotte scrolled through it until she finally found the call option, and she immediately clicked on it.
"Hello?"
"Hi Sucy," Lotte greeted. "Are you…"
"I'm stuck creating a character," Sucy continued, with a pained sigh.
Lotte broke into a giggle, hearing the distraught in Sucy's usually near-emotionless voice.
"Ehehe, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you hadn't played the game yet," Lotte said, "I nearly forgot how many options they let you choose from."
"Why does it matter what my favorite dish is?" Sucy groaned. "And why are there hundreds of different races to choose from?"
"Yeah, it can be a bit overwhelming," Lotte agreed. "But with a world as vast and wonderful as Nightfall's, you have to include everything or it just wouldn't be right!"
"... That's just unreasonable," Sucy sighed, accompanied by the sound of multiple chimes, showing she was still going through the character creation screen.
"Maybe I could help?" Lotte asked.
"... Please."
"And finally, all you need to do now is put what you want others to call you!"
"... Shouldn't that have been first?"
"Those in the Nightfall community care about our character options!" Lotte said proudly. "Plus, the game keeps track of people with an individualized code, so the username isn't too important."
Lotte heard a chime from across the call, signalling the end of the character customization process, and she instantly felt her heart race.
"Are you done?" Lotte gasped.
"Hopefully," Sucy said. After a moment, another ring played through the call. "It seems like it."
"Oh that's good!" Lotte said, clasping her hands together. "Now, you should see a bunch of options-" Sucy groaned immediately, causing Lotte to laugh. "-but just look for the one that says 'meet with friend' and-"
"Just click your name?" Sucy interrupted.
Lotte felt her face heat up just a bit and her heart skip.
"Y-yes," Lotte stuttered. "That would be good."
"Alright, I'll see you then." Sucy said, just as the call cut off.
Lotte bit her lip and nodded to herself. Before she could even breathe, however, a beam of light rose up from the ground beside her and caused her heart to nearly jump out of her chest. Her head whipped towards the bright blue beam, and her eyes widened as the light dissipated.
In seconds, the light was gone, leaving only a small circle of light on the ground. In its center, stood Sucy, dressed in a large vampire cloak. Lotte couldn't help but look at her. Sucy's pale skin glowing in the pale blue remnants of light shining from the ground. That sharp red eye burning intensely bright in the darkness.
Lotte breath hitched. Sucy just looked… so… so…
"Cool!" Lotte finally said with a gasp. In an instant, she zoomed towards Sucy and started zipping around her. "Wow this is such a cool cloak! It's like Edgar's from Volume 33! I didn't even know that was an option! And wow! The vampire's glowing eyes trait is so bright! It looks so good on you!"
"... Lotte."
"Ah! The fangs too!" Lotte nearly yelled as she looked at Sucy's teeth. "We should really try cosplaying next time we can meet up in real life!"
"Luh-te" Sucy repeated.
"Eh?" Lotte blinked, before looking up into Sucy's eyes. "Yes?" When all Sucy did was blink at her, Lotte took in what she was doing, and immediately dashed backwards, her face flaring. "O-oh, I'm sorry."
Sucy sighed and shook her head.
"It's fine. I guess you like it?"
Lotte just nodded, biting her lip to stop herself from breaking into another ramble of just how perfect the look was and just how well Sucy could fit in as a Nightfall character.
"Well, then," Sucy said. "Now that I'm here, maybe you should show me around?"
"Really?" Lotte said with disbelief.
"I wouldn't know where I'm going anyway," Sucy shrugged. "Might as well have someone I know show me places."
"Oh! Okay!" Lotte quickly bounced over and took hold of Sucy's hand. "I'll show you where everything is!" Lotte felt her lips split wide as she guided Sucy forward, already planning out the perfect trip for the two of them.
It had been a long while since she'd done this. Since she'd taken such a trip down memory lane.
Getting to walk around Nightfall Online and just take in the sights, talking about how each location fit in the vast world that was Nightfall. From the hotel where Edgar and Arthur were… "forced" to room together in that one college arc, to reminiscing about the supermarket where Belle hid and nursed Edgar back to health during the great zombie saga of the series. It was a lot of fun, and it made Lotte really want to reread the series from the start for the fifth time.
However, that wasn't Lotte's favorite part.
As much as she loved looking through Nightfall's history… she was having even more fun just spending time with Sucy. Living across the world from her was… really hard. Spending time alone like this was a rarity, and even though it may be virtual, Lotte still wanted to make the most of their time together.
And while this wasn't exactly the same as being with each other in the real world, it was the best they could do for now. After all, being able to spend time with Sucy, in anyway, was something Lotte would always hold onto.
Even compared to how great she felt in the past, running around throughout this rich world, she could tell that taking it slow, being able to talk about it all to Sucy, gave her that much more of a spring in her step. Plus, the small, almost imperceptible, smile on Sucy's face gave Lotte just the fluffiest feeling in her chest, something not even the softest stories from Nightfall could match.
And that's why Lotte knew just where she should end this little tour. At a place that Sucy would love without any doubt.
Lotte stopped the two of them in front of a giant warehouse. She turned to Sucy and sent her a smile.
"And this is our final stop," Lotte said, a grin growing on her face.
"Oh?" Sucy asked, widening her eye.
"Yes, this warehouse is from volume 58," Lotte said. "And in it… well, let me just show you!" Lotte lightly gripped Sucy's hand, and the raised eyebrow Sucy sent her way made Lotte chuckle. Clearly Sucy was growing suspicious. However, Lotte knew that Sucy would never guess what's in store.
Slowly, Lotte guided the both of them towards the door. As they approached, the doors slid open automatically, and Lotte mentally cheered when she heard Sucy gasp beside her.
"This is the mushroom farm Arthur had to work in to purchase money to pay a local guild to form a search party and help find Edgar and Belle when they got lost in the Forest of the Lost." Lotte chuckled. "It has every single kind of mushroom in the wor-"
Lotte was interrupted by a tug of her arm. She looked up and saw the widest smile she'd ever seen on Sucy's face, and her pulse raced as she stared into the bright red eye, glimmering with a near, child-like excitement.
"Well, what're we waiting for," Sucy asked. "Come on!"
Lotte couldn't help but laugh, her heart brimming with joy and excitement. It was rare to see Sucy show so much excitement… but the times Sucy did never failed to fill Lotte with the most fulfilling warmth.
And it was definitely something she couldn't say no to.
Lotte quickly moved forward and guided Sucy throughout the entire building, never once failing to look back at Sucy and admire the most wonderful smile she had ever seen.
Just as how this adventure started, Lotte and Sucy sat by a local shoppe by the warehouse, selling a variety of mushroom themed treats.
Sucy was drinking a mushroom cocktail, grinning with delight, as Lotte just leaned against the table and smiled as she watched.
As the drink began to dry up, Sucy put the cup down onto the table and turned back to Lotte with a smile.
"Thanks for showing me around," Sucy said. "It was a lot of fun."
Lotte sat back up and chuckled, shaking her head.
"No, no, I should be thanking you!" Lotte said. "I actually hadn't had that much fun walking around here in a long time."
"Well," Sucy smiled, "It's a good thing Akko can't get her priorities straight then."
Lotte laughed along, hiding her smile behind her hand.
"I guess you're right," Lotte couldn't help but agree. "If she did, we wouldn't have been able to have this…" Lotte trailed off, her face filling with warmth as she stopped herself from continuing her thought.
"Date?" Sucy finished for Lotte, much to her chagrin.
"Date? This wasn't-" Lotte tried to deny, frantically waving her arms, but met with Sucy's deadpan stare, she quickly self-destructed and slumped her head. "I guess that might have been what I had in mind." Lotte sighed in defeat. She peeked up and sent a guilty smile. "It's a little weird for a Christmas date, huh, since Nightfall doesn't really have a Christmas event."
Sucy shrugged in response though and leaned back against her chair.
"It's fine," Sucy said. "It's been Christmas where I am since September, and honestly, if I have to listen to another holiday song, I'll probably stuff my ears with mushrooms."
Lotte chuckled and let out a long sigh.
"Well, I guess that's good then?" Lotte asked, happy that Sucy seemed to have fun and that She also seemed to be okay calling what they just had a date.
And maybe it wasn't traditional, but it pretty much had all of the things she would read about in stories. It was just the two of them, doing something together, and having fun. The only thing that might've been missing was a kiss at the en-
Immediately, Lotte's face filled with fire as the thought entered her mind, and her heart quickly began to to hammer against her chest. Lotte gripped at the edges of her chair in an attempt to hide this new wave of nervousness and embarrassment that had crashed onto her.
Despite that, Sucy clearly noticed something was off.
"Is something wrong?" Sucy immediately asked, raising a brow.
Lotte just dipped her head down to her lap and shook. Despite this, the thought continued to echo in her mind, growing louder and louder as time passed.
As stealthily as she could, Lotte raised her eyes up, but she was quickly met with Sucy's glowing, almost mesmerizing, red eye. She bit her lip, which had begun to tingle, and mentally fought over whether she should voice the thought in her head… wondering if it was even worth doing over virtual reality…
But the curiosity of how it would feel won out.
"Would, maybe…" Lotte slowly began, gathering the courage in her chest to continue. "Maybe I could have a goodnight kiss?"
The second those words escaped her lips, Lotte instantly felt heat rush to the back of her neck, filling her with regret. Silence fell upon them, and all Sucy did was continue looking back at her.
After a few more moments, Lotte slowly began to think of a way to try and play it off as a joke… in a way that could fool someone as perceptive as Suc-
"Sure."
One word.
One word was all it took to shatter Lotte's thoughts.
In that moment, Lotte sprang off from the table, and her eyes felt like they would pop out of her head.
"R-really?!" Lotte breathed out in disbelief.
"Yeah," Sucy repeated. "Why not? I think this date has definitely earned it."
The word "date" still made Lotte's heart skip… or at least it would have if her heart hadn't already stopped.
Still, now was not the time to falter.
Lotte gulped, doing her best to swallow away her nervousness.
To no avail, of course, but it worth a try.
Still, Lotte placed her hands on the edge of the table and leaned forward. When she saw Sucy lean forward as well, Lotte' instantly closed her eyes, knowing she'd probably stop midway should she keep them open.
And before she knew it, she felt her something soft against her lips, and her heart swelled in her chest, filling her entire being with a warmth unlike anything she'd even known.
It was a feeling that even outmatched the first time she discovered Nightfall. A feeling of joy unlike anything she'd ever felt. A warmth that threatened to overtake her.
It was a kiss that felt like something she'd read about in the stories… but it was something that words would never be able to describe. A feeling of bliss far beyond anything she would ever be able to match… at least alone.
However, such a moment could only last for just that. A moment.
Just as Lotte could finally reign in her own feelings so that she could savor this moment, it was immediately interrupted-
"AH!"
-by an ear-piercing screech. One that she knew all too well.
Lotte's eyes shot open. She was met with a similar look of shock on Sucy's face, and they both immediately sprung backwards.
In that moment they did, a beam of light shined upon their table before quickly dissipating to reveal Akko standing before them.
"Guys! What're you doing!" Akko asked. "I told you I was only going to be gone for an hour or two!"
All Lotte could do was look down on her lap. The realization that she was just kissing Sucy caused her face to burn white hot and filled her stomach with scrambling butterflies, constantly fluttering and aiming to fill up more and more space within her.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Sucy growled.
"I was coming to get you!" Akko answered back. "The event only goes on for a few more days! And I know I made us wait longer than we needed to, so I wanted to get going as quickly as possible!"
"Why didn't you just leave another message?" Sucy sighed.
"This was faster!" Akko replied. "What're you two even doin...g."
Lotte slowly looked up at Akko, after their friend's words slowed to a stop. When she saw Akko turning her head between both her and Sucy, however, she immediately ducked her head, hiding her face from view.
"O-oh well," Akko stammered, before jumping off the table. "I, uhm, I'm going to go back to Luna Nova Online… but I expect to see you both there soon! I'll see you two later!" Akko quickly made her exit, disappearing in a beam of light.
Despite now being alone, Lotte still couldn't bring herself to look back up, embarrassment still embracing her entire being.
However, when she felt a hand rest on her head, Lotte finally looked up at the person who was now in front of her, Sucy.
"Sheesh, Akko really is an idiot huh?" Sucy said with a forced smile.
Lotte chuckled and nodded in response. After all, there was no way she could disagree with that right now.
"Well, I guess we should get going," Sucy added. "Akko won't be able to get anywhere without us."
Lotte smiled and lifted herself out of her seat.
"Yeah, you're right." Lotte said, readying herself to log off of Nightfall Online. However, before she could, however, she felt a soft touch against her cheek. Lotte quickly whipped her head, and was met with Sucy peeking at her, seemingly nonchalant, but with pale skin betraying the clear red on her cheeks.
"I'll see you there?" Sucy asked.
Lotte nodded and grabbed Sucy's hand.
"Of course!" Lotte smiled.
And with that, the two of them logged off of Nightfall Online to see each other again in Luna Nova Online, thus ending the first of, hopefully, many dates the two of them will share.
... Yeah I know it's been a while. Sorry, work has been draining my energy and I haven't really had the motivation nor the ideas to write anything. But I decided to join in on LWA secret Santa, and that was a lot of fun! Hopefully I'll be able to think of something more to write, but right now, I'm still tapped out.
Disregarding that though, thank you so much for reading! I hope everyone, especially the person this is for, enjoyed this fic! And I hope you all have a Happy Holiday!