As Neptune put on her shoes she received quite a few stares of confusion and disbelief from everyone else in the room with her, which were Histoire and Nepgear of course.
"So you really don't remember anything that happened yesterday?" Nepgear had been surprised that her sister woke up with no recollection of the prior night, though she was also relieved that she was back to her old self again.
"Yup." Came the ever so simple answer from the elder yet shorter Nep.
"Well, if you say so..." Naturally, Histoire was the most skeptical of this situation, however, she was intent on getting to the bottom of this. "So, Neptune, where are you going so early in the morning?"
"I'm gonna go see good ol' Gust about the potion she gave me yesterday." Neptune proclaimed with her usual cheer and gave a fist pump as she finished putting on her shoes.
"Potion?" Naturally, the mention of a potion peaked Histoire's interest, same with Nepgear, as they both shared a look. "Nepgear, I would like you to accompany Neptune and find out whatever you can about this potion." The fairy oracle made sure to keep her voice quiet as she asked this task of the purple candidate.
And of course, Nepgear, being the ever agreeable little sister type gave Histoire a nod of approval and a mock-salute (because apparently a nod wasn't good enough). "Sure thing, I'm on it."
"You coming with me Jr?" As one would expect, Neptune's comment was enough to get the attention of both the oracle and her sister, looking quite taken aback to boot. Since when did Neptune develop such good hearing?
"Oh, Um yes, I'll meet you outside."
"Okey dokey." With that, the older Nep sister turned back to the door and proceeded to head outside, while Nepgear sighed, shared another look with her oracle, and went to go grab her own shoes, In that order!
In the meantime, the little oracle sighed to herself and uttered these short words, "Today is going to be a long day."
-~-~-~- Purple Lovers -~-~-~-
Now outside, the two siblings were making their way through the streets of Planeptune in search of the traveling alchemist slash ripoff artist known as Gust.
Or at least that's would be what would be happening if a certain CPU wasn't being… well… Neptune.
"Sis please, we can buy some pudding later." Nepgear was trying to focus on this potion that her sister had apparently drank, whereas her sister was looking through the window of every bakery they passed, which happened to be quite a few.
"Aw come on, just one?" Neptune looked at her sister with hope sparkling in her eyes, not to mention the drool coming out of her mouth. Just the sight of her pleading sister was almost enough to get Nepgear to give in.
"No means no." Almost.
"Aww," Giving in, the older sibling cast a quick glance at her beloved snacks before putting a hand to the glass, lamenting the missed opportunity. "I'll be back for you." After speaking those words, Neptune turned back to her sister and (begrudgingly) walked along in search of their friend the alchemist.
"Like I said, we can go buy some later." Luckily the prospect of some pudding later in the day was enough to restore Neptune's spirits, to which Nepgear could only smile to herself.
And so, the two sisters went back to their quest, but considering who they are, it was only a matter of time before something weird happened.
"Come one, come all!" The weird thing being a cloaked individual sitting at a table with a crystal ball in front of her. "Step right up and for a small fee, you too can have your fortune told!" As for why she was doing it in an empty street… Maybe she was just crazy… Most likely.
"Ooh, check it out Jr, that person looks like she's in a cult." Of course, it didn't take much to catch Neptune's attention, who was wearing a rather goofy grin at the sight of the fortune teller, however, the prospect of learning the future was also very intriguing to Nepgear as well.
After mulling it over for a while, Nepgear decided to have a look see what this whole fortune telling business was about.
"Ah yes, you there," As soon as Nepgear began approaching, the cloaked woman pointed a finger in the candidate's direction. "Would you like to learn your future?"
"M-me?" After looking to her sides, Nepgear pointed at herself, wanting to confirm something (something that should have been pretty obvious).
"But of course, I don't see anyone here other than you and your older sister."
"Well I guess- wait," Nepgear had almost missed that comment, but she wasn't quite as slow as her sister. "How do you know she's my older sister?" Gear wasn't the only one taken aback, Neptune herself was also quite surprised to realize this person knew something that so few people did.
"Call it a sister's intuition," The cloaked woman said… Wait, sister's intuition?
"Hmm," The young candidate wasn't entirely convinced, but at the same time, she figured it wasn't a big deal, so she decided to accept the answer and approached the fortune teller with Neptune right behind her until-
"Hold it!" The fortune teller held a hand up to stop the two before pointing a finger at Neptune. "I'm afraid that I can only tell one person's fortune at a time, so miss, if you would, please wait elsewhere until we are finished."
Nepgear turned to her sister, who in turn, rubbed the back of her head and sighed.
"Well, I guess I'll go wait over there," Neptune pointed to a nearby tree. "Just call me if things start getting weird, okay Jr?"
Said Jr, gave her sister a nod of approval before turning back to the cloaked fortune person, walked over to her, and sat down at a seat facing towards missus cloaky.
"Very well then, shall we begin?" The cloaked weirdo began closing in on her crystal ball, moving her hands around the thing and looked to be in a trance of sorts, this made Nepgear lean in a little, interested in seeing what this possible fraud might say. "I see it.
I see you and a tall very beautiful woman standing together in a field, your sister standing nearby with sword in hand." Suddenly, Nepgear felt very entranced, leaning in even further. "I see your sister falling to the ground as she calls your name."
"And… and...?" Nepgear was leaning in as far as she could.
"That'll be fifty credits please." Only to flop onto the ground and out of her seat.
"Wha! Just for that?!"
"I'm joking, the first one's free. Now let us continue shall we."
"Mmmm." Pouting at the cloaked jokester, Nepgear let out a huff as she got back in her seat and the woman went back to her crystal ball.
"Let's see here..." After a few more moments of waving her hands around the ball like a total weirdo, missus cloaky- ("Stop calling me weird things!") Missus fortune teller looked back at her now confused fortune tellee. "What sort of relationship do you have with your sister?"
"Huh?" Taken aback for a moment, the candidate asked the obvious question. "Why do you ask?"
"I would simply like to know before I tell you what I've seen is all."
"W-well, we're really close, I wouldn't trade her for anything." Nepgear's answer was quick and without hesitation.
"I see, but does your sister feel the same way?"
"T-that's..." Taken aback by the question, the candidate stopped for a moment to truly ponder her answer. "O-of course she-"
"How can you be so sure?" Not letting the candidate finish, the cloaked woman continued. "Has there ever been a time where it felt like she didn't?"
"..." Once again stopping to ponder, Nepgear quickly recalled the time she'd spent in the Ultradimension, all the times she'd been the butt of the joke, all the times she'd been ignored, and all the times she was left alone, all because of her sister. All because of Neptune. But… that shouldn't matter now should it? Neptune was trying to make up for all that… Although she wasn't trying very hard. The most she'd done was throw Nepgear a birthday party with some friends, all the while she was busy doing something else entirely… Barely even paying Nepgear much attention...
"Well?"
The cloaked woman's voice brought Nepgear out of her thoughts and back to reality. "… I… I'm sure..." The candidate's voice came out weaker than she'd intended.
"You're sure of what? For all you know she might just be acting like that in some vain attempt to make it seem like she cares."
"I… I need to go, my sister's waiting!" Lifting herself from her seat the candidate turned back to where her sister had gone and began to walk away… before she stopped and looked back at the fortune teller, but to her surprise, she wasn't there. "Huh?" As Nepgear stood there confused, she completely missed the speeding streak of green zooming through the sky. "I… I should go." She said to no one in particular.
Once again turning to leave, Nepgear set off, trying her hardest to push those unwanted thoughts out of her mind. There's just no way Neptune would feel that way was there…?
But even still, those thoughts kept creeping their way back to the forefront of her head as she made her way back to Neptune.
"Oh hey Nep Jr, how'd it go?"
"Huh, oh hey Gear."
-~-~-~- Purple Lovers -~-~-~-
As Neptune waited, she realized something. It was really boring waiting by herself. At least if someone was around she'd have someone to talk to, but this was just so BORING!
"Oh, It's you Nep."
Being roused out of her boredom, the CPU looked over at the source of that voice, a voice she knew rather well.
"Compa told me about what happened yesterday, shouldn't you be at the basillicom resting?" It was none other than IF the plot dev-er I mean, Guild Agent… yeah.
"Iffy, how's it going?" Completely ignoring her friend's question, the CPU flashed her friend a smile, accompanied by a wave of her hand.
"I'm fine, but what about you?" IF sauntered over to her chum, looking her over all the while as if trying to discern whether the girl really was okay or not.
"Aw come on, I'm fine, why does everyone keep asking?" The purplette waved (more like flailed) her arms about, it was getting a bit annoying how people kept asking her if she was okay.
"Probably because you passed out and started acting weird after you woke up." IF, of course responded with her usual deadpan stare and response.
"Aw come on, I don't even remember that."
"You don't? Then that's just even more reason to go back to the basillicom."
"No can do, Iffy, I've got plans for today," As the words left Neptune's mouth, her friend gave her a rather stern look, to which Neptune took a step back. "I-I'm serious Iffy!"
"What could be so important that you'd risk your own health for it, why are you even out here in the first place?" The guild agent crossed her arms as she kept up her stern expression.
"Well, I gotta go see Gusty about a potion she gave me, but that's beside the point," A potion? That certainly got IF's attention and gave her an idea as to what might have happened yesterday (since unlike Neptune she actually used her brain on a regular basis), but she was more interested by the "that's beside the point" remark. "I gotta talk to some people about my surprise party for Nep Jr!"
"Surprise party? Wasn't her birthday a few days ago, Isn't it a little late for a party?"
"No no, It's for something else."
"What else could you wanna celebrate that involves Nepgear?"
"Well..." Neptune took a moment to look around, making sure no one was around to hear. "Today's the anniversary of when Nep Jr saved my life." With her hands on her hips, the CPU put on a confident smile, although the answer only seemed to confuse IF even further.
"What are you talking about?" The brunette tilted her head in confusion, returning to her usual deadpan stare.
"Well, back when I was fighting in the Console War, I almost bit the big one. The only reason I'm still alive is because I kept thinking about Nep Jr's face… It's kinda silly I know, but I'm the protagonist here, we gotta have some silly sappy stuff in our past, it's a requirement."
Aside from the "silly sappy stuff" comment, IF seemed genuinely surprised by her friend's words. Since when was Neptune such a caring sister? "So you wanna throw her a party for-"
"For being around," The CPU pumped a fist in the air and flashed her friend a toothy grin. "Besides, I do kinda owe her an apology for all of that stuff that happened in Plutia's dimension."
"I'd say you owe her more than just an apology for all of that." IF's comment elicited a wince from the CPU, good, that meant that she remembered that she was still in the dog house because of it.
"And that's why I'm gonna spend the whole afternoon making it up to her," Neptune still felt quite guilty about treating her sister like that, heck nobody was really planning on letting her forget. Histoire scolded her about it, Compa scolded her about it, IF even scolded her about it, after bonking her on the head of course.
Nepgear on the other hand had gotten off light, she received a few words of encouragement from Histoire, Compa, and a lecture on the importance of being independent and how she wasn't helping Neptune by being so childish by IF. Either way, both girls clearly had some growing up to do, Neptune more so than Nepgear, but at least they were trying, 'trying' being the key word.
"Well I guess I should be glad that you're actually trying, but if you really feel guilty then why didn't you just make it up to her on her on her birthday? You weren't even there most of the time." IF waved her hands in front of her as if to accentuate her point, but to her surprise, Neptune did indeed have a reason for not being there.
"Well I got a call from the carnival people and they said they were running a bit short on supplies so I figured I might as well go help em out," To this, IF's eyes widened slightly as she took in her friends answer. "Besides, I figured that if I wanted to make things up to Jr then I should do it myself when its just the two of us. I just hope she likes it" Neptune kicked at the ground with her hands behind her back as she finished explaining herself.
"Wow… I guess you really do feel bad about it huh?" The brunette rubbed the back of her head, not having expected such an answer. "But if that's what happened then you should have asked for help."
"I wanted to, but you guys looked like you were having so much fun so I didn't wanna be a party pooper." The CPU shrugged as she spoke.
"Well I'll be damned," Once again IF's eyes widened a little in surprise before a wry smile on her lips. "Y'know, sometimes I feel like I don't really know you, one moment you're acting like a spoiled kid and the next you're being a responsible older sister. Just make sure you stay like this from now on, ya hear." IF seriously doubted that Neptune would go back to mistreating her little sister if she was this determined to patch things up with her, but you can never be too careful with someone like Neptune.
"You betcha." In reply, the purple-haired CPU gave her friend a mock salute, as if to say "you got it boss", or something like that.
"Good. Anyway, what was this about a potion?" Hoping to get some more info, IF steered the conversation back to this potion from Gust that Neptune was talking about.
"Oh yeah, you see yesterday Gusty gave me this potion she said she wanted me try out and-" Neptune stopped suddenly, taking a look to the side to see her very own sister walking towards her. "Oh hey Nep Jr, how'd it go?"
"Huh, oh hey Gear." Putting on a friendly smile, the guild agent waved towards the approaching candidate, however, she noticed that something seemed a bit off about her.
"Oh, hello Miss IF, sis." Although Neptune didn't notice anything wrong with her sister, IF certainly had and was growing quite concerned.
"Hey, are you okay, you look a little-"
"Huh, I'm fine." Gear replied while waving her arms frantically, though it only seemed to make IF even more skeptical.
"Are you sure Jr, that cloaky lady didn't do anything weird to you did she?" To IF's surprise, Neptune was the one who spoke up, and while she did want to ask about what Neptune meant by "cloaky lady", she didn't have much time to be dawdling around asking questions all day.
"Yes, I'm fine." Although Neptune wasn't entirely satisfied with her sister's reply, she figured that pressing the matter wouldn't be such a good idea, so for the time being she let it drop.
"Well if you say so, now come on Jr, we gots to go find us an alchemist," With that, the shorter girl grabbed her sister's arm and proceeded to take the lead in their search for said rip-off alchemist. "See ya Iffy!" Stopping for a moment, the CPU gave her friend a wave as her sister did the same.
"Goodbye Miss IF."
"See ya guys!" After IF gave the two a wave of her own, the sisters quickly went back on their way, leaving IF on her own. "I'm gonna have to look into these potions after work, I just hope Nep doesn't do anything too stupid in the meantime." She said to no one in particular before getting back to heading to the guild to report for duty.
Meanwhile the two sisters were making their way around Planeptune once more, Neptune looking pretty excited for the events to come later that day, completely unaware of the thoughts creeping through her sister's mind.
"For all you know she might just be acting like that in some vain attempt to make it seem like she cares."
There's no way… right…?
-~-~-~- Purple Lovers -~-~-~-
Meanwhile up above the skies of Planeptune a certain busty CPU began to slow down as she approached land and undid her transformation, landing gracefully on her feet as she did.
Vert let out a sigh as she thought back on her actions, almost feeling a little regretful as she did as she spoke to herself. "I'm sorry about this Neptune, but you are not worthy to call herself your sister. But worry not, I would be more than happy to fill that role in your stead." Giving herself a few words of reassurance, the busty CPU quickly headed off to find the two purple-haired sisters, getting ready to initiate the next phase of her plan.
By the end of this day, she would be Nepgear's older sister and no one else.
