AN: Hello and welcome to what should be the chapter where things actually start happening. Lemme sell it straight—I can't write actual fights to save my life. What I can do, though, is write characters decently well (please never mind the fact that my first OC was kinda trash), so I usually develop the characters but forget about the actual plot. But no more!
Also, a guest reviewer has asked me to put a character description of Neon in my bio, and I have done so. Check it out if you're confused about what this chick looks like. Without further ado, let's start!
"Ma'am, is it really true that your nation made a CD in the shape of a character's head before?" Neon, who had exited her armor to bask in the Basilicom's heating, sat cross-legged next to Rom and Ram, who were playing the newest installment of *Lowee Bros. Brawl*.
The petite goddess groaned and nodded. "I didn't even know about it until after its second day on the market. I had no control over those dumbasses."
"That's a fancy way of saying you weren't paying attention to your nation's productions," Noire spoke up from the side. She took a slow sip from her teacup, smirking all the while, and waited for the brunette's response.
She did not disappoint as she clenched her hand around the computer mouse and turned her attention towards Noire and bellowed, "At least I'm not the one who's console takes five damn hours to load a single game. Who's the one not paying attention?!"
Noire did not receive this well, as she set her cup down rather violently and retorted, "That was a consequence of the advanced technology and memory capabilities! With progress comes challenges; you know this!"
Amidst the growing conflict, Neon weakly spoke up, "P-Please, don't fight! N-Not in front of the children!" As the two goddesses instantly snapped their eyes to her, the earthling wilted and weakly stammered in anxiety.
To the girl's surprise, Blanc's gaze softened as she took one last glance at her computer screen. She cleared her throat and said, "Sorry about that. I guess I got caught up in the moment."
"Yeah," Noire agreed. "We shouldn't have let that happen. But seriously, would you stop shaking?" Her expression changed to a reproaching glare as she settled her eyes on Neon once more.
"It's rather embarrassing," Blanc piled on. "For a warrior hailing from a ravaged world, I thought you'd be a lot braver."
Neon crumpled again, but chose not to say anything as she simply wrapped her arms around her knees and curled into a ball. Despair nearly radiated from her as she muttered deprecations to herself and her bangs shadowed her eyes.
Noire grumbled and softened her expression as she corrected herself, "Jeez, I didn't think you'd take it so personally. But seriously, why are you so unconfident in yourself?"
The blonde took a few seconds to react, remaining balled up and wallowing until she slowly raised her head and looked at Noire apologetically. She weakly answered, "Sorry, it's just…I've never had such close friends before. I…I guess I wanted to make a good impression."
"Ooh, our Noire can relate to that!" Neptune suddenly popped her head up from behind a couch, startling Neon as well as the Lowee twins, causing the three to jump in surprise and let out startled yelps that all sounded oddly alike.
"N-Neptune?" Neon stammered. "How long have you been here?"
"Oh, I was here the whole time," she nonchalantly answered. "I was leveling my Sneak skill behind that couch until I got bored. I think I got to 60 or something." She smiled and sat down next to Neon before saying in a painfully obvious whisper, "But yeah, Noire's a total loner. She can relate to your 'no friend' problem."
Noire and Neon flustered and yelled at the same time, "S-Shut up! I am not a loner!"
The earthling spoke alone this time, "I just…didn't have the time while I was surviving in a post-apocalyptic wasteland! Y-Yeah!"
"Oh my goddess, you're just like her," Neptune teased, smiling mockingly with a hand over her mouth. "You'd fit right in in Lastation."
A timely distraction for the two victims came in the form of Vert opening the door and holding a tea tray. With only a smile, she set it down on Blanc's desk and proceeded to hand a cup to each person in the room, but instead giving juice boxes to Neptune and the twins. Once she had set herself down in a chair, chaos quickly ensued.
"Hey Vert," Neptune spoke up, barely stifling laughter. "Neon's a total lon—"
"I am not a loner!" Neon yelled, blushing furiously, scooting a little bit closer to the twins as she did so. "I could have plenty of friends if I tried!"
"Oh my," Vert sang. "It seems we have another Noire in our midst." She giggled to herself and smiled at Neon, awaiting her reaction.
Much to her surprise, however, she did not fluster or outwardly react as she had expected. Instead, the earthling pulled her knees close again and curled into a ball, radiating despair once more and muttering self-deprecations. Her face was covered by her bangs, and a cold sadness seemed to emanate from her.
"Did I…do something wrong?" Vert worriedly asked. "This doesn't look good."
"This same thing happened just a few minutes ago," Blanc said with a groan. "This chick takes everything so damn personally."
Upon hearing this, Neon curled up tighter, tears welling up in her concealed eyes. "I…I guess…I really do…" she whispered to herself, her voice shaky and cracking.
"Woah," Neptune exhaled. "She's got tears and everything." She edged closer to her and patted her back reassuringly. "I didn't mean it to be an insult."
"Neither did I," Vert followed up. "I apologize. I forgot you are not used to our sense of humor and playful teasing." She took a sip from her tea and set her now-empty cup back onto the tray, waiting for a response.
Upon hearing this, Neon seemed to enter some sort of limbo, as she began to violently shake and twitch. She muttered, "I-It's okay, but…I should've k-known you were j-joking…"
She continued on this indecisive breakdown until Blanc coughed to receive everyone's attention. She announced, "While you were busy with your emotions, Neon, I was checking to see if we had anything in Lowee that corresponded to your flash drive."
The girl slowly raised her head and quietly asked, "D-Did you find anything, ma'am?"
"It looks like a retro console from Lowee can fit the input," she answered plainly. As she noticed Neon's face lighting up, she quickly dashed her hopes, "Don't get too excited. It's never that easy."
"Well, what's the problem, then?" Neptune tilted her head in curiosity. "Why can't we just go and grab it?"
"Those consoles aren't being produced anymore, and they're hard to find on online shops," Blanc explained. "The people who have them are very protective of them, and will need serious coaxing to part with them."
"Can't you just use your power as a CPU and make them hand it over?" Neon asked innocently. "It should be pretty easy."
Noire shook her head and answered, "Most of Gamindustri doesn't know you. If she were to use her influence to help you, the people of Lowee might think she was assisting an enemy."
"It'd also make me look bad in front of my nation," Blanc added on. "The people wouldn't like to see me using my power to get a game console."
Neon blew a low whistle and said, "Jeez…I never even thought about that. Being a CPU must be tough work." She moved some hair out of her face and behind her ears while taking a deep breath. "Well, what can we do in the meantime?"
"Unfortunately, there isn't a lot we can do," Blanc deadpanned, standing from her computer chair and taking a seat with everyone else. "I just put out the request for the game console, but don't expect anything to come of it for…a week? Two?" She rubbed her forehead, trying her hardest to think of alternate solutions.
"I really do appreciate this, ma'am," Neon said with a smile. "If there's anything I can repay you with, please don't hesitate to ask me." She rubbed the palms of her gloves together as she looked at the petite goddess with expectance in her eyes, like a maid waiting for her next task.
However, her servile wishes were quashed when Blanc responded, "Not at the moment, no. Although, that attitude would serve you well if you wanted to work in Lowee once this was all said and done."
Neon noticeably winced at this, but before anyone could ask what was wrong, she began, "Truth is, I still haven't decided what I'm going to do once this is all over." She took a small sip from her then untouched tea cup and continued, "I could go back to Earth, but after seeing everything here, I'm not sure. It'd be selfish of me to stay here and forget about my own world, but after all this, I just…I want a normal life."
"We understand," Vert soothingly said, eliciting a nod of agreement from the other goddesses in the room. "If there is any way we can help you, please don't hesitate to ask. You have our support."
Neon looked away, clearly distraught. She declared, "I really do appreciate the offer, but…I've got to do something by myself." She glanced back up and saw everyone's confused reactions. The earthling chuckled and continued, "I thought that this would be a one-person job—I'd get here, find what I needed, and go back. But, ever since I got here, I've been depending on you for…well, everything. I haven't even walked out of a damn building without someone behind me," she gravely said with another wry chuckle.
"What, did you think we would leave you alone in this world you don't know?" Noire disapprovingly asked. "You can't expect to be able to do everything by yourself. And it isn't a problem for us to help you out, so what's the big deal?"
The blonde looked up at Noire, her eyes weak and undecided. "I know, I know…it's just…how am I supposed to lead a world when I can't even lead myself?" She picked herself off the ground and dusted her palms together before continuing, "I need some time. I'll stay in Lowee, but…" She tried and failed to conjure more words, but eventually chose to simply leave the room, leaving the goddesses in a confused silence. Noire could swear she saw tears coming from her eyes as well.
"Well, that was something," Blanc said with a scoff. "If she had just listened to all of us, none of that would have happened." She closed her eyes and took her first sip from her tea, sighing into the cup.
"Well, why don't we go find her?" Ram chimed in, looking up from her doodling paper. "She should still be pretty close by."
"Just leave her alone," Neptune advised, exaggerating her vowels. "Girl's got a lot ta think about, so we should leave her to do that." She looked down at the twin's doodling and felt a massive smile appear on her face. She abandoned the conversation in favor of joining the fun, much to everyone else's chagrin.
"Neptune!" Nepgear chided, trying to regain her attention. "This is serious! She has no Credits, and goodness knows where she could be!" She repeatedly shook her elder sister's shoulders, but the Planeptunian goddess seemed to be immune to her efforts, only expressing mild discomfort at the continuous shaking.
"Aww, but Nep Jr!" Neptune protested, flailing her arms about rather comically. "We can't do anything here! We just gotta let her sort everything out, and come back! Easy!" A sanguine smile crossed her face again as she managed to wriggle free from her sister's grasp and return to her doodling.
"I sure hope you're right…" Noire muttered into her cup with a sigh.
Far away, tears fell into the snow, unseen and unheard.
AN: Ooh, drama. My favorite. In all seriousness, are you noticing another one of my weaknesses? I can't write Rom and Ram to save my life. Even though Neon loves children and it seemed the twins were going to get a lot of focus, Ram was the only one to get dialogue and she had precisely one line. Feels bad, man. XD