((I swear to god, I have frickin' school tomorrow, and I'm doing things like this!…
… Then again, almost nothing goes on in that building except for when I actually have jobs to do. Otherwise I'm just doing stupid crossword stuff, reading, and drawing.))
"Like, Geya! Isn't this cute?" She clipped the heart-shaped barrettes onto her younger sister, giggling. "I picked them out, just for you!" Geya stayed quiet, only nodding. It wasn't in her at all to talk back at anything the older CPU did.
… That's how it's been for years though. Neya picked out just about everything for Geya. The one time that didn't apply, was when Nepgear and Swanson bought her a t-shirt and a jacket respectively for Christmas. Neya of course, hated that, so Geya couldn't get away with wearing it in public.
Well except for the few days where she didn't have to hear "like, where do you think you're going in that?!" when Geya reached the door. But even then, chances are somehow Neya would find out later.
Maybe Geya should say something. But her older sister mostly won those arguments. And Esenkay had no oracle, so no one could get between the two and break it up, or pick a side. Bleu once tried defending Geya… But it was during her "phase", which from there on Bleu covered up, not wanting anyone to remember that.
"Uh, like, earth to Geya? Are you listeniiiiiing?" She was spacing out, not realizing the older sister was speaking. "There's gonna be a huge party tonight you know! You should totally come along, and make some friends!"
As the room filled with silence, she turned her head to a computer. "No thanks. I'm just gonna play my new game."
"What?! Why?! You can play that another time you know! You like, can't sit in your room all day like a stick in the mud!"
Great. Now Geya just had to open her mouth so Neya would stop. "Because every time I go to a party, you butt in and try to force others with me…! How can I be myself and make more friends, when you won't let me?!"
She flinched and stepped back, annoyed. "I don't want you to make, like, totally nerdy friends that are lame and gush over stupid things! That's not good for our image! We're already losing shares, and it's not gonna help if you're so uncool when it comes to attending social events!"
"You don't know what our citizens want! You're too busy admiring yourself and want me to just be a clone of you!" Geya then began pushing her older sister out of the room. "You talk down to 'nerds' when your audience may be mostly that! Maybe people want someone unique and possibly easier to relate with! But you don't really know, do you? Because you'd rather look good in front of everyone in Gamindustri, in the same way Noire does!"
Not another word came out of Geya, as she just slammed the door on Neya, and locked it. "Geya?! Like, this is so lame!… Fine! You know what? You can keep being a shut-in during a whole year for all I care! Or you can come outside and apologize, and do what I'm doing! Being an awesome person who socializes!~" Geya waited to hear footsteps away from her door, then hear something open and close.
Finally, Neya was gone. With no one else in the basilicom, she could mess around with her games, forums, fan-fictions, and comics in peace…
But that was the night where Neya didn't come back at all. At first, Geya was actually relieved for a while… Until the shares began depleting, paperwork began stacking, and Arfoire product-stands popped up.
That was when Geya figured out that compared to her sister, she really was useless to the nation, and she really wished she was more like Neya…
Most of the labor work around the Gamindustri Graveyard was… Simple enough. Just cleaning up the area, helping pack products for Underling to deliver…
… And being Judge's "stress relief toy". As long as no one caught on. Brave already did, but chose not to say anything. Usually if Judge knew he couldn't get away with it, it would become a sparring match instead. Unfortunately, those fights were one-sided, since Geya couldn't transform due to the virus status being inflicted on her thanks to Magic.
It wasn't the kind that would wear off either, it was a strange version that was permanently stuck on her from a cursed piece of equipment that CPUs can't remove. It was the only way to keep her in line according to Magic. Not that she planned betraying anyone.
No, Geya was actually having fun here. Between the banter of ASICs members, Brave generally being far more supportive than her own older sister, and… The rather crazy nights with Judge when they could, she actually felt rather happy.
She only really missed playing some games, but there were some Arfoire products that had them, unfortunately, some of them were badly bootlegged or anti-piracy things were attached to render things unplayable. Magic said that she and Trick were going to fix that.
But to make up for that, Geya would find weird products lying around. Mainly really old stuff that seemed like garbage from smaller continents, like those weird virtual-reality helmet things, blasters, scanners, plug-in microphones, those old gloves from Lowee…
Most of these things ended up being a bust overtime. "Hey! Um… Has anyone ever tried, putting some of these together?" Underling just stared at her. "Like making it into a big super-weapon cannon thingy? That would be cool… Wouldn't it?"
Even still, Underling couldn't get behind what Geya meant at all. "What good would that be? We already have monsters and some ancient, virus-inflicting mechs!" Hesitating, Geya nodded softly, looking down.
"Y-yeah… You're right. I can't imagine how that would be put together anyway. I'm no good at wiring things together, that's Nepgear's thing… Sorry, I shouldn't be coming up with useless ideas." Geya then continued cleaning up the junk, putting it into a ditch and then covering it up for land-fill. Several old cartridges and cases were tossed in, particularly of rather infamous games. "That's how it always is with ideas. Everything is great in your head, but then you jot it down on paper, still seems okay! But… But then you don't know what to do afterwards, huh?"
Underling hated having a nice chat with others, especially with a CPU, one that was so awkward too. Yet, between the self-deprecation, and the rather interesting thoughts… She couldn't snap back or disagree with Geya. Besides, she had a point. A lot of Underling's own ideas seemed better in her head, then they ended up turning around to bite her back really badly.
As she picked up one of the old guns from the ground, Geya glanced back at Underling again. "M-miss boss lady? Why not instead of using that old pipe you have, you use a long-range weapon? Like a sniper, to be sneaky about things? Or maybe some kind of other gun that has a large blast-radius up close? I know it would be hard, but… Surely that could be done!"
… Boss lady?
That was a first. Probably the first time anyone has called her that properly, without relying on some mind-control or whatever. Was Geya really underneath Linda's power even? Either way, it was nice for once.
"I mean… Most of my strength is in my arms really, but maybe at some point I'll try out that suggestion." Putting the broken gun down, Geya went back to filling up a pit with junk, picking out interesting things in the process. "Say, broad! Why are you even talking to me? Or anyone else here for that matter? Aren't you afraid of any of us?"
Her work halted. "Well, yes… I was afraid. But right now, Magic is the only one who frightens me a little bit." Geya let out a soft laugh. "Actually, people like you, CFW Brave and Judge are easier to talk to than my own sister if you can believe that. We never exactly got along too great." Then Geya instantly returned to her duties. "Neya always preferred hanging out with Bleu instead, and only wanted me to be just like her."
"That sucks and all, but…" Underling leaned against a box, still surprised she was making decent conversation with a CPU candidate. "Judge? Easy to talk to? He was the one who tried to kill you and captured you the first time, wasn't he?! Not for nothing, but CFW Judge is—"
"Kind of wild? That's actually what made me start speaking to him… Because I felt, um… He's got… So much anger, wanting to be let out! And that sort of anger, leads to tension…" She fidgeted, face turning a bit pink around the cheeks. "Y-you may not want to know this, and he may get mad at me for telling you, but he's partly the reason I'm still here, rather than just tied up… If I was given a choice, I'd stay here for the company, but home has all my collectables and other stuff… For once, socializing feels more important in my life. But that my be just because I'm not sitting at my desk playing games, huh?"
… This wasn't what Underling expected to hear.
Granted, perhaps a fight with Judge could get filled with quite the tension— Especially with the shoulder-button weakness that was burned into her mind during the meeting. She just stopped talking, and Geya did the same. It was best if neither of them spoke any further about what sort of things Judge was into. The both of them were extremely lucky that Underling was so weirded out, that she wasn't going to be a snitch and tell Magic. Granted, part of that would be due to Judge probably coming out for the lackey's blood if that happened.
Eventually of course Underling had to go do shady businesses in Lowee. And shockingly enough, she did say goodbye to Geya… Unfortunately for the CPU candidate, she was running low on stamina, and had been working around almost the whole day.
Her eyes lulled as she began to fall asleep. She was just lucky that Judge was patrolling around the area, and grabbed Geya before she could drop onto her own face or something. "Dammit, how come you fleshy CPUs run out of energy so fast?!" Judge growled, trying to hide his amusement.
Any excuse just to hold a cute, sleeping Geya in his hands worked though. It was so peaceful… So peaceful, that it actually soothed a savage, bloodthirsty character like him.
((Aaaand with that I'm going to sleep also- But one thing before I go of course, sorry this chapter is kinda short…
Experiment Twilight asked about how Magic knows about the shoulder buttons and I DIDN'T THINK OF THAT ACTUALLY, it was probably from fixing him up and getting an aggressive response, to which Magic, being… Rather stoic compared to the rest of the CFWs, probably passed it off as Judge just being Judge, even if… Y'know… Either way, she wouldn't do anything about it.))
