Who would've thought that taking things slower makes things better? It gives me a few more days to jot down my ideas and helps me keep things going at a less rockier pace. I used to stress about meeting my own deadlines, but as long as I don't stop completely that shouldn't be a problem. That's the last thing I want to do concerning any writing because outside of well, games, it's the next thing I like doing. It's just a matter of coming up with scenarios and the like for side stories and stuff.

SRT - Unfortunately no mount for Falcom. She'll develop some interesting things further down the line, like staying in control of her body for one. There are so many things that can go wrong when you wander off without...yourself.

Kuroi-Yasha - Without Uni around Falcom may attempt to get a little closer to Nepgear, but trying to get a Planeptune's CPU attention is a feat in itself. With a new look and a slightly more adventurous attitude something may end up happening, but don't count on Nepgear to think too much about it...for now.

"Psst! Nepgear!"

"Mmm... Not now Falcom. Give me a few more hours, your bed is soooo nice. I don't ever want to leave it..." I mumbled sleepily as I readjusted myself...and it felt like I bumped the back of my head on something.

"As much as I would like that for that to happen, I've got a huge personal problem that needs to be taken care of." She sounds awfully close to me...really close actually.

"Mmm, that's nice Falcom, I'll take care of it in the morning..." I scooted myself towards the center of the bed again and I felt light breathing down my neck.

"You've left me no choice." Did she somehow slip into the bed behind me? I can't blame her since this bed is really comfortable. She did say I helped her get to sleep when she had so much trouble doing so before, so maybe she just wanted a nap too. It was really nice of her to not wake me up to ask, I'm more than happy to help her out with whatever she needs. "Please forgive me Nepgear, but this is seems to be the only way to wake you up. To think I would need to do this so soon..."

I heard her take a deep breath and then gasp a little as...her lips clamp down on the corner of my shoulder and neck! I stumbled out of bed trying to fight back the powerful tickling sensation that began to flow down my entire body. "F-F-Falcom! Goodness!" I tried to reach up and pull her off but she had readjusted herself in such a way that sent a tingling feeling down my spine, making me lose control of my arms while my back arched. "Aaah!~" I powered through all my shuddering and successfully pulled her off of me.

"I said in advance I was sorry Nepgear, but it was the only way to get you to wake up. I've lost track of my body and I can't imagine where it might've wandered off to." She was blushing and nearly in tears as her head wiggled around in my hands.

"What?" I turned around to see that her body was in fact missing, but the sheets were also a mess on the other side. I make my over on the other side and sure enough her lay there, nicely curled up in the sheets. "Aw Falcom, you kind of look cute all sprawled out sleepily down there...I think."

"D-don't give me that! Please put my head back on!" She tried to rock herself toward...herself but my grip was a little too firm and all she could manage was look adorable squirming in my hands. I think that says a lot when I find a headless friend not scary in the slightest...I hope this means I'm ready for whatever else comes my way.

"Let's just pull these covers off of you and..."

"...and what Nepgear? What? Don't trail off like that all of sudden."

I put her head on the bed facing away and propped her body up. There's nothing out of the ordinary but the way she's panicking practically begs for me to tease her a little. If only she waited for me to finish what I was going to say then this urge wouldn't have suddenly come up...but I bet this will be a little fun. "Oh goodness Falcom, your shirt seems to have come undone a little."

"What!? D-don't look at me!" Her head rocked back and forth as I fooled around with the sheets to make it sound like I was really going at it. "What are you doing!?"

"Nothing~..." As tempted as I was to actually loosen her straps a little more, I couldn't bring myself to go all the way, she'd probably faint. Besides, I've already propped her on the side of the bed and was just teasing her a little bit. Wait, how exactly is this going to work? If I put her head on her sleeping body, would her body wake up or would she fall asleep? "Hey Falcom, um...I think your body is still sleeping. Are you a heavy sleeper by any chance?"

"I've been told that a few times. Why? What does it-" I think she realized just now that I was really teasing until now, I may have to actually fool around with her to wake her up. "No, you wouldn't! Anything but that! I've got control over my body, see?" She struggled as hard she could and only managed to tip herself over. "No no no... It wasn't suppose to happen like this..."

The most I could is help her sit back upright and face her toward me and the rest of her. "I'm sorry it has to come down to this. Would you rather risk falling asleep or do you want to stay awake and-"

"D-don't make me watch!" Falcom sounded extremely embarrassed as I got into position to try to wake her up. She's still pretty cold but I think I can endure it if it means getting her moving again. What exactly does she think I'm going to do? "Just...be gentle with me ok?"

"Mhm..." I was already getting a firm grip on her waist as she said that, and started stroking her sides with a little vigor to keep my hands warm as I try to figure out my next move. I ease my hands up and down when her body jumps a bit and slumps to the side a little. "You wouldn't happen to be ticklish anywhere would you?" Her body reacted more and more up until I got near her armpits, when her whole body jumped again nearly knocking me off of her as she lurched back into the bed. That's a much bigger reaction than when I try to wake up Neptune when she sleeps in, and she's can be slightly on the moody side if woken up improperly. I think I found a sweet spot...

"Ah no!" I made my way up her body and got a few seconds of tickling under her armpits before she pushed me away and frantically searched the bed for her head. The second she put her head on she went into a fit of laughter and doubled over on her side holding herself as her face turned a deep red. "Aha! Nepgear, what have-ahaha! Haha, you done! Please, I need a moment to myself...to catch my breath of all things..."

"It was the only-"

"P-please!"

I nod and leave immediately for her sake...I guess I could explore the house a little, I've been curious as to why she chose her own room instead of the master bedroom or something. Well let's see; there are two rooms next to Falcom's, another at the very end of the hall, and a door on our end of the hallway. "Oh...it's only the bathroom." I left that door open to try the one right next to Falcom's room and then the one next to that, but they were locked. "I should've known these would've been locked. Wonder what's behind the final door..."

Going up and down this hallway made me realize that it's much longer than I thought it was when I first peeked my head out the door. "Hm?" The door at the end farthest from Falcom is already opened a nudge...I wonder what's inside.

I try to open the door silently but it creaks so loudly I think the entire house heard it. This has to be her parents room, it's noticeably bigger and...something in here was giving off a faint light. Ah, there was a dimly lit lamp sitting on a nightstand near the head of the huge bed in front of me, and the curtains were drawn to block out what little light that tried to get through the stormy clouds. I could barely make out the rest of the room when someone grunted and started moving around in the bed.

"Ngh..." I dropped to all fours and quickly crawled my way to the foot of the bed, and worked my way under it. Curiosity got the better of me and diving under the bed was the only thing I could think of at the moment I bet I looked pretty sill scrambling under here. That couldn't have been her father or mother though, I'm sure they're not here and these grunts sound too...young. "I think that was a long enough nap, hopefully those two girls didn't get too hurt by that bug I made." Is that...Underling? There she goes again with the not being mean act...is she really a nice girl here? "I really didn't want to send something so big and mean at them, but I can't afford to screw up, not with the boss lady counting on me. It's a shame they had to go and break that shoddy golem too, I wouldn't have to had make something so dangerous." She jumped out of bed with a clack as her toenails hit the floor. "That red head with the sheepgirl...I can't believe how strong she is. While I want to say it was a good idea to attack her the way I did, I wish I didn't. Orders are orders though, so if I have to keep up the tough act to stop people from interfering, that's how it's going to be." She walked off to the curtains, dragging her tail behind her and took a brief look outside and leaned on the window sill with a sigh. "That sheepgirl looked nice too, hopefully she didn't get a good look at me. If she doesn't recognize me this might be my only chance to make a friend that's...like me. Ugh...this work is getting old...and all of it is for such a petty reason."

So Underling is in fact working for some 'boss lady', but she doesn't sound to thrilled about it. She must be in too deep or owes her something big if she's forced to do this kind of work. I hope Falcom is doing ok though, she got real quiet after I headed down here and the last thing she needs is having Underling find her with her guard down again.

"Ugh, had I known it was going to rain I would've brought my pants in here to dry. I bet they're drenched or got caught up in the tide or worse. Aagh! I bet I'll get sick if I walk around like this too...not that I'd walk around in these shorts by themselves anyway..." She turned around and let herself slump to the ground on her rear as she pulled her knees up and curled up into a little ball. "Whose place is this anyway?"

"Nepgear! Where are you?" Falcom's voice rang out from further down the hallway, alerting Underling to her presence.

"Ah! I can't let her know I'm here but I don't want to get in the rain either! Hm, anything beats what boss lady will do to me." She stood straight up in an instant and opened the window in a panic. "Looks like I'll have to cheese it! Wait...what's with that funky blue string?" She fell backwards out of the window with bright, blue glowing strings wrapped around her ankles and wrists. "Gh! Get...get off of me!"

As I crawled out from under the bed to help Underling, Falcom came barging into the room. "What in the world is all this commotion!?"

"Nevermind that, we have to help her out!" I grabbed hold of one of the strings that had bound her, but I was met with a weird, burning sensation and pulled back immediately. "Gaah!"

Falcom dove forward and tried to make a grab for the strings as well, but they pulled Underling up and dangled her in front of us. I didn't notice before but the source of these strings floated above us, two pairs of planks lined crossover each other that dangled a now unconscious Underling in front of, before whisking her out the window. "I swear I recognized that girl from somewhere. How did she even get in here?"

That's right, Falcom did get a quick look at Underling before her...breakdown. That's still hard to think about, I thought she was definitely...no, that was then, this is now. "I'll explain later, we need to help her out before it's too late!" I jumped out the window with Falcom right behind me as we chase down the doll-like Underling.