here i am again
almost a month again
i could probably benefit from deadlines, but somethin tells me thats gonna result in dangerous scuffedness
heres a longer one (i think); should be more chill for now
shoutouts to true blue pikachu; good to hear the reviews and seeing how im doin
"Wake up, Lady Blanc."
"Mm…" The voice is soft enough to nudge Blanc from her slumber. The first thing she does is to feel out where that book is while her eyes are still trying to open. When her vision is clear enough, she sees that she's in an entirely different bed than she had expected. "...Oh." She finally looks up to who's at her bedroom door. "...Financier?"
The maid smiles as she greets her. "Yep! It's been a couple of days since I've seen you, hasn't it?"
"Mhm."
"I was a bit late in waking you up when Mina wanted me to, but it won't be that bad. Anyways, I have breakfast ready!" She waits for her to get up before leaving.
"Breakfast? You didn't have to…" Her always-present eagerness as her chamberlain stops her natural response. "...Okay. Thank you." After a long stretch, she slowly takes off her blanket and stumbles towards Financier.
"Always my pleasure, Lady Blanc." Once she's with her, the two start walking down the vast hallways.
As they make their way to the dining room, the only noises around Blanc are their footsteps echoing around them. It certainly feels much quieter compared to yesterday. As much as she enjoyed the company of her friends, all of the talking was becoming overwhelming.
"So, um...What happened last night?" Financier asks to break the silence. "I had to be somewhere yesterday, but I could see all the ruckus from town."
"Last night…" After sleeping on it, it's hard to believe what happened. She knows why it happened, but she still doesn't know how things escalated that far. It's because of this that she has trouble finding out how she could've prevented that. "..."
Financier patiently waits for her answer, anticipating a long answer.
Plus, it's not just them that got worked up; she definitely didn't think she had it in her to yell at them like that. She was scared of them, yes, but how did that lead her to become so...angry? It wasn't anger like she sees with the other Blanc, who gets mad when something annoys her, either. She keeps dwelling on that one specific moment because that ultimately led them to become so...irreversibly livid. Things probably would've turned out much better if she didn't say that.
"Lady Blanc?"
"H-huh?" Blanc is brought out of her stupor.
"I guess it was a long night for you, huh?" she deduces from her unmoving frown. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
She realizes she had completely forgotten her question. "...Oh! S-sorry, um…" Where to start the explanation…
"Ah, there you two are."
Both of them look ahead to find Mina in front of the dining room. "Yep, here we are! The food shouldn't be that cold, right?" asks Financier.
"It does not appear so. Come, we can discuss today's schedule while we eat," invites Mina.
"Financier, um…" Blanc tries to answer her question before entering.
"Hm? Oh, don't worry about it. You can tell me later." She can always ask Mina what happened, anyways.
"...Okay." She's going to have to let those thoughts sit in the back of her mind until later and listen to what Mina has to say.
Her Oracle opens the door and the smell of scrambled eggs and sausages leave the dining room. She leads the two to the three plates placed close to each other, and everyone takes their seats.
"Mmm…" She wanted to wait for everyone else to take their first bites before taking hers, but Blanc immediately starts eating her share at a ravenous rate.
"I forgot that she went to bed without dinner…" notices Mina. She has always been a slow eater, too.
"Really? I should have made more, then," laments Financier.
"I think she will be fine for now. But, Lady Blanc, do slow down, or else you will get hiccups."
"Hm?" She is last to be taken back by how fast she's eating. "Oh, okay."
Now that she has her attention, she begins her debriefing. "So, there is a lot to know when it comes to being a CPU, as you may expect, and I will do my best to make this learning experience as palpable as possible." She takes a bit of a pause. "That being said, there has recently been an increase in public suspicion about your 'resetting' incident. Quelling these doubts is an urgent matter, so, unfortunately, our first lesson together will be with public speaking."
"Public speaking? That means..." Talking? In front of a whole crowd? She already gets embarrassed making slip ups in front of her friends; what's going to happen if she does that in front of everyone? Just thinking about it makes her heart slowly sink. "H-how many people are there going to be?"
Lowee's population is in the millions, but Mina knows it's best to not state that out loud. "I would have postponed this for as long as possible, but the people have not seen you for almost a week, Lady Blanc. The longer we wait, the more impatient and the less understanding they will become."
"O-okay." She easily understands what she means, but she nevertheless quivers at the thought of so many people listening to her. In particular, she's afraid of what to say in front of them all. "Do I tell them that I lost my memories?"
Mina has prepared her answer to this earlier. "I understand that confirming that will alienate some, thinking that you have lost all of your merits as a CPU. However, we know that you are certainly different than what you used to be, and people will eventually notice that, if not immediately. It would be suspicious of us to not acknowledge that, so we will have to address your personality change, which, unless you would like to fabricate an alibi, would then require an explanation in the form of..." She sees Blanc briefly considering lying, then her reluctant understanding. "I am sorry, Lady Blanc. I know this is a difficult situation, but it is inevitable when you choose to stay like this."
"I know." She resumes eating, hoping for the good food to distract her from this for a little bit more. In her uneasiness, she doesn't notice herself eating faster.
Mina offers a reassuring smile. "There are other ways we can make this easier for you, however. For example, it does not have to be a live announcement; a recorded video of you will suffice. That way, you do not need to worry about misspeaking in front of others."
She perks up. "Oh, really?" She knows that there's still a chance that she might say something wrong without her knowing it, but having multiple attempts at least quells her stage fright. "Does that mean I can…you know...write down exactly what I want to say?"
Mina thinks it over for a bit. "Relying on scripts is not a good habit, Lady Blanc. It can feel unnatural, and it would help you in the long run to learn how to speak on command, no?"
Blanc's worried frown clearly shows how unprepared she feels.
With a sigh, she concedes, "Alright. Since this is a video, we can prepare a script. But, at the very least, I want you to only have notes for future speeches."
She relaxes her body in relief. "Thank you, Mina."
"Yes. We shall start writing it after breakfast; is that fine?"
"Hm...Okay." It's a bit sudden, but she thinks she can work with it. Trying to prepare as much as possible, she starts thinking of what to say or what structure her speech should be in. Mina said that the public hasn't seen her for a while, so she should start off by addressing that. More importantly, what's the best way of telling them about what happened? Say something nice and reassuring before and after it? That way, they won't be- "Hic-"
"And there it is." Financier stifles a giggle through her grin. "You really must've liked my cooking, huh, Lady Blanc?" It's nice to see her enjoy her food for the "first" time again.
"Umm, how do I-hic-" She continues hiccuping, feeling increasingly embarrassed. The fact that Mina specifically told her not to eat quickly makes her feel like it's a big deal. "How am I going to do the speech-hic- now?"
Mina can't help but crack a slight smile at her reaction, despite her warnings against the hiccups. "It's fine; they will most likely go away before we record the video. Try drinking more water, as that might stop your hiccups sooner."
"Hic-okay." She starts downing the rest of her cup as quickly as possible.
"Not so fast, Lady Blanc!"
(-)
"Thanks for helping with cleaning the dishes, Lady Blanc!"
"Thank you for cooking breakfast." She feels that she should at least do that for Financier for making such a delicious meal.
She returns a humbly grateful smile before asking Mina, "Is there anything else you'd like me to do? I haven't seen the tw-"
"Actually, there is one favor I would like you to do." Before answering, she turns to Blanc. "I will be with you in your room in just a minute; I also need to tend to a few things beforehand."
"Oh, um, okay." She leaves the two behind and walks back to her bedroom.
With her out of earshot, Financier remarks, "Ooh, something sneaky you wanna say?"
"Not in particular. It is not urgent, but I need you to travel to Lastation's Basilicom."
"Hm? What for?"
"Both Rom and Ram are staying with Noire and Uni for an undetermined duration. While they already have staff there, the twins would appreciate having you to accompany them." Seeing as those two usually wake up by now, she pulls out her phone for any updates from Noire.
It takes a while, but she pieces together the general outcome of what happened last night from prior events and what she heard from Mina and Blanc. "...I see now. Well, anything to help the goddesses!"
"Thank you." She's about to walk away, but stops when she notices Financier's look.
"Is there something else?" Though still smiling, she appears dispirited from what happened between her CPU and her sisters.
Wanting to assure her, Mina offers her insight. "Those two might still be rather stubborn, but I know for certain that their scorn is not infinite." As much as she'd like to "strongly lecture" them on what they did wrong, she has a feeling that that would make things worse this time. "They simply need some time to let their minds wander to something else before they can behave properly around Lady Blanc."
"Yeah..." That still leaves her with the recurring question of how long will that take. "Hopefully that'll be soon, right?"
"Yes." It has been a while since she's been with them, but she still has a strong hunch that they'll cool down by tomorrow at the latest. "Anyways, that is all."
"Alright. I'll get prepared now, so see you!" Financier turns around and leaves for her room.
Left alone, Mina slowly walks in Blanc's direction while checking her phone, not seeing any response from Noire or Uni at the moment. Though preferring to make calls over text messages, she only needs a quick check-in, so she decides to text first. "Good morning, Noire. How are Rom and Ram? Are they awake?"
It takes a few seconds, but she replies, "Let me check" After a minute, she adds, "They're still asleep. We made sure to start treating their wounds before putting them to bed, too"
It's nice to see her initiative. "Thank you very much. I would also like to let you know that I am sending our Basilicom chamberlain to you."
"You don't need to. We have more than enough people to look over them"
"I know, but they would appreciate having her with them."
Noire's next reply doesn't come immediately. As Mina makes it to Blanc's door, she simply receives a short "Ok thamks" and nothing else.
That response is rather disconcerting, but they can't have caused too much trouble if they're still asleep or if they just woke up, right? She decides to forget about it for now to focus back on the speech. Knocking on the door, then opening it, she finds Blanc sitting on her desk, with various scribbles and notes already written on the loose-leaf paper in front of her.
Having her train of thought broken by her entrance, she silently stares at her as she approaches.
"I see that you have already started; that is good." She can't have written too much, given her expressed lack of confidence in herself, but it's better than nothing. "May I take a closer look?"
She hesitates for a moment, unsure if she wants to share what she wrote, before giving the paper to her.
Holding it up, she sees that a fair portion of the sheet is covered in marks made by a particularly crappy eraser that smears, rather than erases, pencil lead. "This is certainly a lot of writing and erasing within such little time…" Beneath the mess, Mina is able to spot a chain of boxed phrases. Carefully following the arrows connecting them, she is intrigued by how far Blanc thought through this speech. "This is...a good beginning you have here, especially given your lack of experience."
"Really?" She seems more confused than flattered. She only had time to put down the most general structure of what she thought a speech sounded like relative to the subject at hand: an introduction, something to address her absence, explaining her incident, et cetera.
"Indeed. We could spend more time to detail it further, but…" She pulls out a pen from her pocket, crosses out a few of the boxes, adds one of her own, then puts the paper back on the desk. "...I can help with that as we start writing the script."
"Okay." She might not understand why it's good, but it still feels nice that she's going in the right direction. Maybe this won't be as painful as she had thought. She leans forward on her desk to take another piece of paper from a drawer.
"Oh, let us use your desktop instead," she suggests while pointing to her computer desk. "You will find typing to be much easier when you want to undo mistakes rather than using pencil and paper." At least, not this pencil…
"Desktop…?" Looking at where Mina's pointing, that desk is much larger, making it more suitable for work than the bedside one she's at. On it are a few books and a keyboard and mouse, oddly without a corresponding monitor or computer tower. Upon approaching the device, outline in hand, and pressing the power button on its top left corner, she jumps a bit backwards when a holographic screen pops up from the keyboard almost instantaneously.
"Mhm. You can open the word program by clicking on the top left button."
She hasn't seen any computer like this. Out of curiosity, she lifts it up, finding that the screen stays in place no matter how she moves the keyboard. "What…" She almost blinds herself when she tries to get a closer look at the holo-projector, too.
It's rather intriguing how selective her knowledge of technology is. Mina supposes it's because this all-in-one computer wasn't around when she was first born. "Let's focus on writing, Lady Blanc," she reminds her, amused by her actions.
"Oh, um, right." Putting it back down, she does as she's been told, dragging the mouse across the nearly empty desktop, and gets to thinking about how to put her main ideas into words. "Introduction and ensure everything is fine…" she reads out loud from her outline.
"Mhm. Remember that you do not have to introduce yourself; a simple greeting is good enough."
"Right." Looking at the keyboard, she begins the deliberate process of searching for keys and typing letters, one pointer finger at a time. "Hello" is the first word she puts on the screen. She stares at it for a bit more before typing, "Everything is fine." She looks at her paper again for the next point. "It is true that I lost my memories-"
Mina interrupts her. "I think you should elaborate more on that introduction."
"What do you mean?"
"Well...beginning with 'everything is fine' sounds vague, and it does not exactly mean anything to the listeners. Additionally, people will be thrown off when you go from something like that immediately to addressing the main topic without a connecting sentence."
"Oh, I forgot…" She wonders why she didn't include any of those in her outline. "How should I connect them?"
"Let's work on what I first suggested. That should follow afterwards."
"Okay." She sits there, still unsure on how to make it sound more specific.
"To start, we could narrow it down to about you, as that is the main subject of the video."
"Oh, right." She deletes 'everything is' and simply replaces it with 'I am."
"..." She is not the most content with that choice.
Blanc notices this from her frown, and looks back, silently asking how else to improve it.
"I suppose that is fine for now," she relents. "As long as you acknowledge their concerns as well."
"Right." She almost forgot about that. "I know that some of you heard that I lost my memories, or that I changed somehow." After typing that, she looks back at Mina for validation again.
Though she has no qualms with that statement, she wonders how often Blanc will stop herself. "Go on, you are doing well."
"Okay." That's good to hear. "That is true; I lost my memories. My friends tell me that I am how I was when I was first born." This time, she can feel Mina's critical eye from out of sight. "Did...I write something wrong?"
She sees a pattern in her writing. "Not exactly. It seems you do not have problems with reporting events truthfully, and I suppose that this is acceptable. It is just that…"
"Is that…?"
"...I think you should keep going. When you finish, recite the script to make sure it sounds right."
"Are you sure?" She doesn't like her unsure tone.
She nods. "It will be fine."
"...Okay." A part of her still wishes Mina could write this for her. But, as she said, it's good to get practice. "I think that I'm still very capable of being a CPU, given enough time."
When she looks up at her, she tells her, "Keep typing. I might distract you from making complete thoughts."
"But I might-"
Smiling patiently and assuringly, she reminds her, "Don't worry. You will go back and fix any mistakes you make."
That is why she wanted to write this in the first place; duh. She tries to keep this in mind as she goes forward with her rough draft. "...Right."
Pleased with her gained confidence, Mina looks back at her phone as she lets Blanc do her writing. Noire and Uni haven't said anything else, but there's someone else she wants to check with. "She should have finished her first searching session a few hours ago…" she murmurs.
"Huh?"
She looks up to see her goddess staring at her. "Oh, nothing. Sorry to have interrupted you; carry on."
"...Okay."
Waiting until she goes back to work, she texts, "Greetings, Histoire. I am simply checking in on our initial progress after yesterday."
(-)
"-hic"
"...Say, Histy, have you always been able to hiccup?"
"Yeah, I've never seen you do that. I'd never think tombs would need to hiccup, either."
Histoire has been particularly grumpy ever since last night. "I believe that you have seen me at least once receive a text message."
"You receive text messages, too? Do you get them in Histybook Messan-"
"Please get back to work," she commands.
"We're on it, we're on it." Neptune feels like her head is going to explode if she hears any more scoldings.
"I'm doing my best, Histoire," Uzume assures as she dusts a shelf. "Especially, since, y'know, I sorta caused it…"
"Daw, don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault that the whole Basilicom looked like a tornado ran through. It was, uh…that whole rough 'n tumbling that everyone jumped on."
"I mean, I guess." She still feels like part of it was her fault. "Speaking of that, you still haven't got me caught up on the whole situation going with why there were two Blancs."
"Hm? Oh yeah, guess now is a good time to let you in on the scoop. Well, ya see…"
As they talk with each other, Histoire uses herself to instantly reply to Mina's message. "Hello, Mina. So far, I have searched through Blanc's first few years as a Candidate. Unfortunately, the CPUs' skirmish over Blanc last night resulted in a rather destructive outcome for the Basilicom. Having to deal with the mess, I was not able to search through more like I usually do."
After a minute or two, another hiccup lets her know that Mina sent, "That is okay; we are in no position to pressure you into working faster. I should be fine with teaching Lady Blanc with what we have for now. Again, I am very grateful for your help, and that I am more than happy to return the favor whenever you need it."
"My pleasure."
"Hey, Histy, who are ya texting, anyways? Do you have a girlfriend?"
Looking up, she sees Neptune, still cleaning, and her teasing grin. "Mina wanted to know how I was doing with Blanc's records."
"Oh yeah, that! Can we have a sneak peek?" She didn't consider it when she suggested this idea, but the idea of getting to know Blanc's past piques her interest.
"The results will only be available when I finish searching."
"Aww…" Hopefully it's only going to take three days as opposed to three weeks. "Hey, Uzume, do ya know anything about tiny Blanny?"
She tilts her head. "'Tiny Blanny?'"
"Y'know, when she was a little sister Candidate! Was she small and adorable like Rom or Ram?"
Uzume looks up in recollection. "I...don't think she was born when I was around." It's difficult to recall information about the other goddesses at the time, given that she can count the number of times she's heard of any of them on a single hand. "It was...Grey Heart and...Grey Sister? Sorry that I can't remember their not-CPU names."
"That should be expected. Back then, CPUs only allowed those closest to them to use their real names," explained Histoire.
"I let others like that Umio-sounding grassroots call me Uzume, though…"
"Most of them, anyway."
"Guess that makes you a trendsetter, does it?" compliments Neptune.
"I guess that's pretty cool, huh? Well, it would've been, if it weren't for the whole memory erasing thing I did." Still sort of bummed out that that happened. "Actually, speaking of searching up Histoire, it'd be nice to learn about the CPU that...y'know, replaced me."
"Oh, you mean Uranus? She was pretty alright," answers Neptune. "Even after becoming a spooky castle-dwelling ghost, she helped Nepgear save the world!"
"Yes. Though sometimes hesitant to a fault, she did her job sufficiently, and her sacrifice by sealing herself with the Deity of Sin was meritorious," elaborates Histoire.
"By the way, what did happen to the other gals that made them go kaput? Wait a minute…" Finishing up her work, she encounters a startling revelation. "If Noire and Vert were hanging out with Blanny's big sis and Uranus, they had to be around the first time the BBEG attacked, right? What happened to them?"
"I can't be too sure without doing a proper search, but…both of them had nearly died from their first encounter with the Deity of Sin, and the experience had permanently changed them. How they changed, I cannot remember right now, but, as you can see, they managed to fully recover."
"Whaat? How come I've never heard about that?" Possibly a sensitive topic for both of them.
"And Lowee's CPU?" asks Uzume.
Histoire suddenly becomes more invested. "Well, you see, the fate of Indigo Heart is a famously contentious topic among Gamindustri's historians. Some of my colleagues, as well as Mina, will say that she silently retired or otherwise feigned her death and fooling everyone and deserted Lowee in the middle of ASIC's first attack, never to be seen again. I am inclined to believe Mina, but, given the circumstances and there being no evidence to support that, it is equally likely that she attempted to take on the Deity of Sin by herself, but was felled with no one around to confirm her death."
"Oof, both of them must've been hard on Blansy…" Uzume reacts uncomfortably. "I guess it's good that she forgot that...? But then she also forgot all the good times she had with her older sister..."
"Yeah. Noire and Vert didn't seem to like her, but, bleh, we were all at each other's throats back then." She can attest to how contrasting the former's tsun was back then compared to today's relative dere. "Maybe looking for Blanny's past info will bring up more information about what happened to Indigo?"
"That is unlikely, unless someone has new pertinent information that I am not aware of."
"You know what'd be fun, Nepsy? Doing some clue-hunting around Lowee," suggests Uzume.
"Ooh! We can be like detectives, uncovering some deep plot twist that surrounds the truth!" Neptune adds in a melodramatic manner.
Histoire is noticeably calmer than before. "It is nice to see you two becoming more interested in history."
"I mean, it's my friends and all! I wanna learn more about them!" It's also good to distract her from being in a scolding mood.
"Yep. I'm still a bit curious about how not just Planeptune, but all of Gamindustri, changed while I was gone." Uzume furrows her brows at another thought she had during Neptune's explanation. "One question, though: if Blansy is like how she was as a Candidate, how come Rom and Ram were pretty fritzed about her not being 'old' Blansy, but 'older' Blansy, if you know what I mean?"
Both of them shrug at the question. "I guess they weren't around for her being all shy and stuff," supposes Neptune.
"With such a disparity in personality, perhaps such a change had to do with the trauma of Indigo Heart's sudden departure." Histoire immediately frowns at her theory and recalculates something upon considering Neptune's comment. "No, that can't be right; Rom and Ram were born before that first attack. Was it something else, then? Was it a culmination of events that was topped off by her disappearance?" Only being able to speculate on it right now, she decides to push that question off for later.
"Wait, Rom and Ram were around before ol' Indigo went missing?" wonders Neptune. "Does that mean she had three little sisters?"
"It's an oddity of the Sharicite and Lowee's unique frequency of having Candidates, but yes," answers Histoire.
"Do you think those two know anything about her, then?" asks Uzume.
"Nah, they're probably in the same boat as Mina. We should ask them about her the next time we can, though."
"I still hope those two are fine. I'm still pretty sure there was some other way to stop them other than whatever Blanc did," laments Uzume.
"It'll be fine. They have Nep Jr. with them!"
"I meant...well, I guess having Gearsy around will make the healing better. Though, it's been a while since we've heard from her."
"Lemme text her." Pulling out her N-Gear, she types, "how u holdin up" to her sister.
(-)
Having been watching the TV for a while, an already-transformed Nepgear jumps up a bit when her N-Gear vibrates in her pocket. "Oh!" She smiles when she sees it's her sister. She texts back, "We're doing ok"
At least, it's alright relative to what it was a couple of moments ago. In the large king-sized bed Nepgear's sitting on, Rom and Ram are tucked in the blankets. A far cry to their usual selves, they are blankly staring at the ceiling with a glazed look.
"Do you want to watch something else? Or maybe we can play a couple of games," suggests Nepgear.
They both don't respond.
"I'm sorry that we had to get a little rough with taking away your staves, but…" She's still glad that she arrived just as they woke up and immediately tried to break out. Even then, she's in HDD just to be prepared for any volatile attempt to escape. "You can go home after today, I think. You can think of this as a play date!"
They don't say anything, instead turning their heads away from her.
Maybe they just need more time to think this over. Leaving them alone, she continues watching the Neptube video she put on.
A couple of quiet footsteps come nearby, followed by knocking on the door.
"Come in!"
Uni opens the door. "Alright. I followed your recipe just like you said." She comes in with a small plate of cookies, setting them on the nightstand.
Ram momentarily looks at the sweets upon smelling them, but immediately looks away.
"Yay! I can't wait to try your cooking!" exclaims Nepgear.
"They can't be that good. I can't even remember the last time I baked cookies…"
"Anything's good if they're made by you!" Eager to try her friend's work, she picks one from the bottom and takes a bite. "Oh! These are really good!"
"R-really?" She tried one for herself before coming here, but she still didn't expect that answer.
"Mhm!" She quickly finishes the rest of the cookie, enjoying every part of it. "May I have another?"
"Um, sure." Still a bit flustered by her compliments, Uni takes one for herself, almost as if to double-check that they're good.
Ram takes another barely noticeable look at them, hoping that they don't notice.
Uni manages to catch a glimpse of her eyes, however. "Do you want one, you two?"
After a hesitant moment, both of them turn around, still very skeptical.
Nepgear thinks something up. "How about...you can have one, but only if you tell us how you're feeling."
Ram immediately turns back, burying herself in the bedsheets. "Hmph."
Rom, though, continues to dwell on the offer. She shares her sister's bitterness, but she isn't so devoted to hiding their shame.
"It'll be better for everyone if you'd just tell us. You can't get help if we don't know what's going on," reminds Uni.
Never looking away, Rom's bottom lip starts to quiver, and she finally yields. "Do...Does everyone...not like us anymore?"
"What? Of course not!" Nepgear couldn't imagine being seriously angry with them.
"But…"
"I don't think everyone will suddenly hate you just because of one thing." On a limb, Uni asks, "You did all of that in the heat of the moment, didn't you?"
Rom doesn't say no.
Nepgear feels much more relieved. "Thank goodness; I didn't think you'd want to do something like that. If you just apologize to her, then everything will be okay!"
This time, Rom seems less agreeing. "...She...she deserved it…"
Her smile falters. "But...huh? What do you mean?"
From under the blanket, face hidden from the others, Ram growls, "We already told you. That's not the real Blanc."
"You know, it's not like someone is possessing her," asserts Uni. "She might be different, but it's still Blanc."
Ram buries herself further into the bed with no other response.
"I know how much you loved her, but…" Nepgear sighs. "Please, you two. Don't you think it's a bit harsh not giving her a chance?"
"It might not be a completely correct comparison, but imagine if she did the same to you two when you were born," adds Uni.
As much as they don't want to entertain their arguments, they can't help but consider her hypothetical. A pensive Rom tries to fully consider what would've happened if Blanc left them to fend for themselves at the old Basilicom.
Ram interrupts her thought. "It isn't correct at all. Old Blanc would've wanted us to change her back."
No way to really verify that right now, is there? "Let's just drop it for now," decides Uni, who's starting to become a little frustrated with how little progress they're making. She brings her plate closer towards the twins. "Here, you two."
Nepgear silently agrees, still discontent at...how this turned out. She should be focused on keeping their minds on something else. "Sorry about keeping these away from you. Go ahead and enjoy them."
Even when offered these cookies, Rom feels too guilty to take one, noticing how dispirited she made the other Candidates. She sees how her previously absolute goal of restoring Blanc is beginning to undermine her friendship with them.
Ram, on the other hand, still isn't moving from under the sheets.
"Come on, just take one," urges Uni.
Rom aloofly takes a cookie, slowly taking small bites and not saying anything.
As they wait for her response, they hear another knock on the door. "Come in."
It opens to reveal Noire and… "Financier?" notices Rom.
"Mhm! How's it going?" her chamberlain cheerfully greets.
"Who's this, Noire?" asks Uni.
"Someone who works at Lowee's Basilicom. She wants to keep Rom and Ram company, so why not?" her sister explains, adjusting her dress.
Nepgear vaguely remembers seeing her once while visiting Blanc. "Well, Uni baked some delicious cookies, so please try them!"
"Hey, only if you want to," she corrects.
"Ooh, don't mind if I do!" Not wasting a moment, she steps in and samples one. "Mmm! These are really good."
"Oh, um, t-thanks…" Maybe she isn't as rusty as she had thought. She tries changing the subject in embarrassment. "Are you okay, Noire?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Having been the blunt of the twins' ambush, she had to tend to herself and get a quick change of clothes. "If everything's fine, there's some paperwork I'd like to get a headstart on."
"Aw, are you sure you don't want to hang out with us?" asks Nepgear.
She's still wary of Rom and Ram. "I don't know. Everything should be fine with you three."
"It's not about that. It's just…" It has been a while since Uni has hung out with her sister. "...There's a lot of fun stuff I've wanted to do with everyone, and today seemed like a good time with everyone here."
"What is it?" asks Financier.
"It's um…" She tells herself that she shouldn't be embarrassed by this. "One of my favorite anime studios just opened a pop-up store, and I wanted to check it out."
Noire already knows what she's talking about, suddenly realizing that she forgot about its opening date.
"It's really cool, too. Like, they rented out a whole two-story building-"
"A-alright; I suppose I could put that work off for now and join you all." Outside of her sheepishness, she needs to ask, "But even then, is it that safe to let these two out?"
"It's certainly better than staying in here for a whole day, isn't it?" points out Financier. "Isn't that right, Master Rom? Master Ram?"
"Only if you promise to stick with us the whole time," reminds Nepgear.
The thought of staying in this one room for twenty-four hours doesn't seem so pleasant. Perhaps Rom has been thinking about this the wrong way, too. Normally, Mina would have incurred a far worse punishment for something on the caliber of what they've done. Instead, she gets to spend a day trip with her friends? "I...Okay."
Contrastingly, Ram is still holding in her spite, not responding at all.
"Ram?" Uni lightly tugs on her, thinking this is the perfect opportunity to get her mind off of Blanc.
No response.
"If it's just one of you coming, I suppose I can call K-sha or possibly Kei to cover for us," Noire says without hesitation.
The idea of being stuck in a room, alone with either the strictest person she knows, stricter than Mina, or a deceptively dangerous yandere, makes Noire out to be particularly cruel. After nearly a minute of silence, she lets out a single "...Fine."
"Yay! I was sorta getting bored watching TV all day." Nepgear sits up. Feeling much less wary, she changes back to her normal form. "Come on, you two!"
Rom is already looking a little better than before. "I-I hope there's lots of cute stuff to buy…"
Ram very slowly uncovers herself from the blanket. She appears to be stuck with a bearish expression, and her eyes are a tad red.
Financier knows to not comment on that. "It's pretty neat when you get to hang out as part as work," she instead remarks. "This store is within walking distance, right?"
"Yep!" Uni takes the lead out. "Let's go, everyone!"
"Right!"
"Mhm." Noire tries to hide her excitement.
"Let's go, Master Ram."
"'Kay."
Nepgear is last to exit. "But what about the cookies?" she asks while eating one.
"Oh yeah. Let me quickly put them away in the kitchen." Uni comes back to take the plate.
Nepgear's phone rings, and she checks who texted her. "Hm, Neptune?"
"u gotta text mina now"
An odd request from her. "What for?" she texts back.
"the scene cant transition until u text her"
What? "We never had to do that before"
"yea but its for this part only, trust me u gotta"
"O-okay…" she murmurs to herself, complying with her request.
(-)
Mina and Blanc are in the kitchen, taking a break from continuously working on the speech for what feels like hours. The latter's head feels nearly blank, unable to think of much after all that writing.
"Would you like some ginkgo tea, Lady Blanc?"
"Ginkgo tea?" Not sure what that is, but it sounds good. "That would be nice. Thank you."
"You're welcome." As she goes for a cup, her phone rings. "Hm? Nepgear?"
"Hey Mina, Neptune told me to text you, but I'm not really sure why"
She's equally confused as her, not quite sure of how to reply.
After a bit, she sends another text. "Is Blanc doing okay?"
"Yes, she is learning rather quickly, and she is quite eager to step up to her responsibilities, even working through her social anxiety," she types back.
"Really? That's great to hear :D" she replies.
An odd conversation, but she doesn't think about it much, going back to preparing the tea.
While waiting for Mina, she sits uneasily at what's left of her work. With much guidance from her Oracle, they've managed to write up something to both of their liking. All that's left is to record the video. Yet, her mind is too exhausted to speak properly.
"Here you go." Mina places a saucer and cup in front of Blanc. "This should clear your mind up a bit."
"Thank you," Without much thought, she starts taking sips.
"Let me know when you would like to finish our break," she notifies with a smile.
"Okay." Through it all, she can at least appreciate how patient she's been with her. No matter how frustrated she got with herself, Mina has been able to calm and direct her in the right direction. Any ill will she had for her, especially after her first encounter with her, is gone. Usually too embarrassed to ask this to anyone else, she tells her, "Can...I really do this?"
"Of course you can. Reciting should actually be much easier than writing it, and remember that you can try as many times as you like," she assures.
"I know but…" A part of her tells her that she won't get it right at all.
"Just remember what I told you: talk as if you were talking to a friend. Though you should act natural, remember that you are trying to be persuasive."
She's heard that a few times already. "Mhm."
Mina thinks something else up. "Besides, you would like to know how your people will respond to you, no?"
Blanc stops drinking her tea. She's right. How is she supposed to prove herself as a CPU if she won't show herself to the public? She shouldn't be afraid of them; she should be excited to see what they have to say, for they are the ones who determine if she is worthy. Not only that, but if she wants to show that she can be better than before she lost her memories going forward, that will require her to come out of her shell to actually outperform herself. "...I think I get it now."
"You do?"
With one more spur of confidence, Blanc finishes her tea and stands up. Her mind is starting to feel refreshed, just as she told her. "I'm ready."
Mina herself is elated by this sudden self-esteem boost, even if it's most likely temporary. "Splendid. Come, I will prepare the camera in your room."
It's not like the idea of her first public appearance still bothers her. There's still a chance that they'll hate her and immediately want her changed back. That's why it's important that she try her very best. If she can conquer one of her greatest fears, the rest should be a breeze, and she'll have nothing to worry about. "I...I got this."
i hope u dont mind the extended lore im making up (because its important)
also, is it better if i call the main blanc "blanny" from now on, or just "blanc" when other blanc isnt around ? otherwise, ill stick to the latter
Having just returned from an early hunting session with S-sha, C-sha is walking around Lowee, looking for a good place for lunch. "Most of these are pretty good eats, but what am I in the mood for today...?" She knows to decide soon so that she can check up with Blanc.
In particular, it's nice to know how she's doing with Mina given the article she read earlier. "Has Lowee's CPU, Blanc, lost her memories?" the news piece read. "Last night, she was seen in Neptower, struggling as her sisters 'kidnapped' her. The Blanc from Ultra Dimension was also spotted here. Though the only details we have so far are eyewitnesses, their reports are still telling that something is off.
"The other goddesses and their friends that were present during the incident did not want to comment on what happened. However, other people present claimed that they've heard them talk about not just Blanc and her erased memories, but a change in personality, too. According to a Planeptune girl who was also present, she has 'never seen Blanc be all cutesy and stuff. I don't know why Rom and Ram are being so grumpy over it, because she's an even better wifey now!' Another girl present stated that 'I heard the goddesses refer to her as being like how she was as a Candidate, nyu.'
"There has not been any official responses from Lowee's Basilicom."
C-sha is still irked that word got out mainly because of those two girls she's never seen, but people were going to find out sooner or later, anyways. "Actually..." Continuing to browse her phone, she sees a brand new article with a link to a video featuring her friend. "That was quick." Not as quick as how fast she clicks on the video, though, anxious to see how she'll fare in a public announcement. "Let's see what she has to say..."