~~~CPUs~~~

Neptune darted back and forth between doorways as she made her way through one of the basilicom hallways. Ever since the CPU woke up, Nepgear had been dead set on getting Neptune to work. First, the half-asleep Neptune was led by Nepgear to the office with the promise of sweets; she managed to catch on to what was happening before Nepgear could lock the door. Neptune may have escaped from the room, but she could not escape from the basilicom, as Nepgear managed to convince Histoire to put the basilicom on lockdown to prevent the CPU from fleeing.

Neptune would have been fine with all of this, if not for the fact that the fridge containing all her pudding was locked and all her games in the lounge were missing. Neptune wondered if the fellow CPU even slept at all after the battle, having planned all of this all to make Neptune do some paperwork. It was a war of attrition, and Nepgear made sure it would make Neptune break faster than she did.

As Neptune approached her destination, she could hear the sounds of eating and forced laughter. Neptune opened the door slightly and saw Histoire and Nepgear at a table, eating some pudding. "Ha. Ha. Ha. I love eating all this pudding with you Histoire," Nepgear shouted, ensuring that her words could be heard from the doorway. "Isn't pudding just the most delicious thing ever?"

"O-Oh, yes of course. Ha. Ha. Ha," Histoire replied, going along with the act. "There's so much pudding here, Nepgear. If only NEPTUNE were here, we would definitely share all this PUDDING with her."

"I agree Histoire. It is definitely such a shame that all this delicious, delectable PUDDING will have to be thrown away because NEPTUNE isn't here," Nepgear said. "I guess I'll have my HANDS FULL carrying all this PUDDING to the TRASH. I sure hope no one AMBUSHES ME as I throw this all away," she added, hoping Neptune would take the bait.

Neptune was too focused on saving the pudding to realize it was a trap, and readied to ambush Nepgear the moment she opened that door. However, Neptune was guarding the wrong room, the realization striking her by wrapping her arms around her midsection. "I got you now, Neptune!" Nepgear exclaimed.

"What the…? Nepgear, weren't you in that room?" Neptune asked as she struggled to free herself from the other CPU's grasp.

"No, I was on a speaker call with Histoire," Nepgear replied as Histoire floated out of the room she was in.

"Please, Neptune, don't struggle. This is for your and Planeptune's sakes after all," Histoire remarked, trying to placate the restrained CPU. She turned away as the work-shy CPU was slowly dragged toward her office, tearing out pieces of the carpet she attempted to grip.

The two reached the elevator.

"This can't be happening, This can't be happening… I know, I'm just having a nightmare from eating too much sugar, heh heh, yeah. A nightmare."

Nepgear pressed the button for the top floor, and the elevator started to rise.

"Nepgear, if you don't let me go I'll- I'll… I can't even describe what I'll do to you because of how angry I am!"

Nepgear led the now calmed Neptune to the office by holding her hand.

"Please, Nepgear, could you please let me slack off? I'll give you all my pudding. Promise. I'll even work harder than twice as hard next time I have to."

Neptune suddenly collapsed, and Nepgear elected to carry her the rest of the way.

"What's the point, even if I manage to get away from this, you're all gonna try and get me working again. Sigh."

As Nepgear set Neptune down and as she began to reach for the door to the office, Neptune moved in front of her.

"It's no use putting this off, Nepgear. It was gonna happen to me one way or another. Well, it's time to face the music," Neptune said as she swung the door open. "I'm gonna do paperwork, and I'm gonna like it!"

"I'm impressed," Nepgear muttered on her breath. Either Neptune was really dedicated to her skits, or she really did go through those five stages in the five minutes it took to reach the office. One could never really tell with that CPU.


"No more. I can't take this. When will it end?" Neptune asked as her face made contact with the desk.

"Neptune, we've been at this for thirty seconds and all you've done is draw all over the documents," Nepgear answered. How Histoire and the other Nepgear managed to put up with such slothfulness mystified her; she was very close to writing Neptune off as a lost cause. However, she had one more ace up her sleeve, one tool so powerful, so persuasive, it was outlawed by the Lowee conventions for being such a dangerous threat to all of Gamindustri. She pointed it at the back of the slacking CPU and activated the forbidden object.

Shk.

"Wha-"

Shk shk.

"Hey, stop that!"

"Work!"

"Never!"

Shk.

"Nepgear Stop-"

Shk.

"I won't-"

Shk.

"Work!"

"Okay, Okay. I'll work! Just stop with the spray bottle," Neptune said, capitulating to Nepgear's demands. She signed the document, put it in the "out" bin, and took another one from the pile to repeat the process.

Nepgear, tasting the sweetness brought by triumph, walked out of the office to inform Histoire on how to get Neptune to work. "Is she gone…?" Neptune whispered. She listened intently as Nepgear's footsteps traveled further and further away, until all that could be heard was the faint humming of the office light above her. She sighed, leaning back on her chair and resting her feet on the desk. Neptune was a professional slacker, and decided to take a nap. Nepgear would hopefully be gone for while.

Shk.

"Ack! I'm sorry, I'll get back to work!" Nepgear had only pretended to walk away, gradually softening her footsteps to mimic walking away, then waited for when she thought Neptune closed her eyes so she could sprinkle Neptune with water. Nepgear then walked out of the door again, with Neptune being certain she would not pull the same trick twice. After doing some actual work for several minutes, Neptune was certain Nepgear had stopped observing her, and closed her eyes to attempt another nap.

Shk shk.

"GAAHH!"


Author's Notes:

This chapter is a bit like a cutting from a plant; I lopped it off from the previous one, then it grew to be larger than the old one. Funny how that works.