oh boi, my first follower, my first step to being famas


"Hey, I have an idea, everyone! Let's all stay for dinner!" A couple hours later after their arrival, giving Neptune ample time to recover, she suddenly suggests this just as she, Nepgear, and Vert had exited the Basilicom.

"A bit presumptuous to declare that in someone else's home, is it not?" replies Vert.

"Think about it, though; she has to re-know us sooner or later. What's a better time to meet someone than with delicious and yummy food?"

"Well, I had been waiting a while to try out a new game for which I received a beta key today…" Vert puts her hand on her chin. "...but perhaps you're right. It also gives me more time to, perhaps, get more acquainted personally with this new Blanc."

"Don't get too carried away, Vert," chuckles Neptune. "What about you, Nep Jr.?"

"Well, I think that is a great idea, but shouldn't we invite Noire and Uni here, too?" responds Nepgear.

Her sister gives a shrug. "You can try, but I don't know...you already saw Lonely Heart storm out on us. Besides, I'm already staaarving! We gotta get to cooking, you guys!"

Nepgear gives a worrying look as her sister starts knocking on the Basilicom door. "...I'll just call them and then can join late."

(-)

"Alright gals, let's get cookin'!" Once let back in, Neptune makes a beeline for the kitchen. "Yo, Financier! What's the good food in the fridge?"

"Huh? What are you doing here? Weren't you just leaving…" The chamberlain was just starting to prepare dinner for the Loweean CPUs.

"Nah, we decided to have dinner together for super important CPU business! Say, is that a juicy steak you're whippin' up? Let me help so that I can eat it later!" Neptune spouts in an uninterrupted string, confusing Financier.

Nepgear steps in to clarify. "Sorry about my sister...What Neptune was trying to say is that Blanc got into an amnesia incident and we're trying to reintroduce ourselves with a dinner party."

The casualness in her explanation doesn't placate the servant at all. "Oh no, Lady Blanc! Is she fine? How could I have not noticed…?"

"Don't worry, Financier. We already had helped her earlier. In the meantime, this Hamburg steak looks like a great dinner, but you wouldn't be opposed to us helping, right?" Vert picks up some nearby cooking utensils. "I'm better at cooking than you may think, having cooked many delicious meals for a certain needy Oracle," she adds with a chuckle.

"Well, I suppose it's fine if it's for a super-important meeting…" Financier looks at the other two goddesses, only to find that Neptune had already started cooking...something.

"You can count on us!" cheers Neptune with a wave.

"Should we at least warn Lady Blanc that you're staying over?" asks Financier, not feeling assured at all.

"Nah, it can be like a surprise party! A surprise dinner party, you can say."

(-)

To the surprise of everyone, the three goddesses prove themselves to be true to their word. On top of making great work on the steak, they also start other dishes to make the banquet more fitting for a party of five (or six). In the middle of it all, though, Neptune had decided to sneak out of the room and is currently finding her way back outside. "Jeez, who makes their Basilicom a castle, anyway?"

A voice from behind her breaks the silence in the echoing hall. "N-Neptune? What are you doing here…?"

"Woah!" Neptune jumps around to find Rom, looking somewhat curious but otherwise normal. "Hey there, little tyke! Not magnetizing yourself to Ram?"

"No! I can get drawing books…e-r, paper by myself!"

"Ah, I'm just yanking your chain. Anywho, we're making a surprise party for Blanc with lots of yummy food. Wanna help?"

"A surprise party…? I'm not sure I'm good at cooking…" considers Rom worryingly.

"Hey, what's taking you so long Rom?" A third voice echoes into the hallway before identifying itself as belonging to Ram, running in from behind her sister. "What, Neptune? Are you trying to break in and make Blanc cry again?" she accuses.

"What, no! Vert and Nep Jr. and I are making something delicious for you all! You can see yourself in the kitchen!" says Neptune, pointing to where she thinks the kitchen is.

"Ooh, I wanna help make food! C'mon Rom!" she declares while pulling on her sister's arm. "We gotta make sure that she knows that we're good at cooking!"

"Um...o-okay!" The two run past Neptune, not questioning why she's out here in this random hallway far away from the kitchen. "What food do you think Blanc likes?" Rom asks while they scour around the hallways.

"How am I supposed to know, dummy? That's why we gotta make lots of kinds of food to find out!" her sister replies. "And hey, the food already smells good! Let's check it out!" she shouts from right behind the kitchen door.

"Did you hear something, Vert?" the two hear on the other side.

"Ka-thunk!" Ram slams it open, startling all four cooks. In particular, Nepgear almost drops a container storing some sort of drink. Thankfully, she manages to keep the spilling to a minimum. "Ha, I always wanted to say that."

"Goodness, Rom, Ram! Please don't scare me like that!" says Nepgear shakily. "Are you already hungry for food?"

"Not yet. Neptune told me you were making something for Blanc, so we wanted to help, right Rom?"

"Uh huh, uh huh!"

Vert is next to notice the two. "Oh, hello Rom and Ram! If Neptune told you, then surely you must know where she has been, right? It's not like her to silently slip out of the group."

"Yeah, we saw in her hallways. She was…" Ram tries to recall exactly what she was doing when she saw her, but keeps coming up with nothing.

"Um... I don't think I asked her before we came here. I'm sorry…" Rom says shamefully."

"It's okay! I can just call her," Nepgear reassures the two as she pulls out her N-Gear. Upon starting the call, though, another N-Gear nearby starts ringing. "W-what?! Why would she...and we were just about finished with cooking,"

"Aw, really? We really wanted to help!" pouts Ram.

"Well, if you think Blanc can wait, I suppose we can keep some of the food warm in the oven while we make more dishes." says Vert.

"One thing, though," chimes in Financier from across the kitchen. "You two were with Lady Blanc, correct? Where is she now?"

"Huh? ...Oh! We forgot about Blanc!" Rom realizes that they left Blanc, telling her they would only be gone to get more paper. "We should check on her."

"Rom...Ram...are you alright?" Everyone hears a quiet voice nearby.

Ram jumps a bit at the unexpected sound of her sister, indicating the risk of spoiling her surprise early. "Aw, geez! Financier, can you make her go somewhere el-"

"Are you in here, Ram?" Much quieter than Rom and Ram's entrance, the door squeaks open while everyone watches in silence. "...Hah? Everyone's back here again?"

"Um...surprise!" Vert throws up her arms in fanfare, hoping everyone will follow suit. When they don't, she adds, "We decided to throw a surprise dinner, just for you. Isn't that right, ladies?"

"Uh, yeah! We were hoping to keep it a secret, too," Nepgear responds, with everyone else silently nodding. "But that's okay! Let's go to the dining hall, everyone!"

Blanc blushes at the sudden offer. "R-really? Just for me; are you sure? I didn't think I...deserved any of this…"

"Yeah, c'mon! Financier is the best cook around, so let's go!" Ram runs over to Blanc, grabs her arm, and tries to pull her along. At the sudden movement, Blanc ends up resisting Ram's gesture, which, when combined with Blanc's well-known (except to her) strength, results in Ram not just failing to move her, but her older sister yanking her in the opposite direction. "Oof…" she lets out as she falls down on the floor.

"Master Ram!" The maid drops everything and runs over to tend to Ram. "Are you alright?"

"It doesn't hurt, right?" Rom is next to check on her, seeing if she needs any healing.

Rubbing her elbow that she hit the floor with, she responds, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. It's alright. Don't get all worried, you guys!"

"...Ram, I-I…" Blanc stands there, away from the others and unsure of what to do. "I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have done that! I'll just...leave…" She begins to slowly sidle to the exit.

"But Blanc, please don't go! We cooked all of this for you," Nepgear tries to reason.

"B-but…" she stammers while her face only continues to redden.

"Everyone, stop talking!" yells Ram, leading to everyone else recoiling, Blanc the most, to her sudden outburst. "I just said that I'm fine! I'm strong, so a fall like that won't hurt me at all!" Turning to Blanc, she adds, "You hear that, Blanc? I know you forgot, but the first thing you should know is that Rom and I are super strong! As CPUs, we go all around the world and beat up baddies by ourselves. It doesn't matter if they're big dragons that can burn down cities or scary demons who eat babies or powerful deities that almost destroyed all of Gamindustri; we'll pummel them!" Nepgear and Vert hide their discontents with Ram's slightly exaggerated pep talk and silently let her cheer her sister up.

"Wha- r-really?" Blanc is feeling equal parts intimidated by her yelling and unsure if what she said was true.

"Uh huh, uh huh! You were there with us, too, smashing a bunch of bad guys with your axe! We're stro-"

Blanc impulsively interjects Rom's part of her pep talk. "I-I was there?" Out of everything the two have said, just the fact that she was out there, fighting these legendary monsters and adversaries, is what gets her worked up, shaking her head in doubt and uneasiness. "I-I could never do that! That's way too scary!" She sharply gasps. "Wait...am I going to have to do that in the future?! H-how?! There's no way! I'm going to let everyone down like that!" She immediately preoccupies herself as she re-learns her responsibility as Lowee's leader.

"Lady Blanc, please calm down! It'll be fine; you've always been a great CPU!" Financier tries to give her shoulder a shake before remembering what she did to Ram and hesitates.

"B-but...I forgot everything! What if something bad happens really soon? I-I can't…" Some tears are starting to form in her eyes.

"Blanc, please." Vert bends down to Blanc's eye level and gives her a stern but non-hostile look. "Don't be so hard on yourself just because you forgot everything. All of us are helping you regain your memories, no? Even if something bad does pop up in Lowee, we'll still be here to help you."

"B-but…" Blanc keeps running into dead ends in her mind trying to come up with what she wants to say. It wouldn't be difficult if the thing she wants to say the most didn't feel like it would offend everyone, but the girls around her nevertheless patiently give her her much-needed time to formulate the right words. Eventually, though, she meekly lets out a quiet "...Okay."

"Phew...thank you, Blanc. Now, we have a spectacular dinner waiting for you. Wouldn't you want to try these foods out?" She suggests, holding up the Hamburg steak.

"Um…" Blanc looks at everyone else, looking at her. Even if they mean the best for her, just their gazes are enough to pressure her decision-making. "Uh...sure."

"Hooray!" The twins shout, startling everyone. "Come on, we're so hungry right now standing around all this food! What can we bring out to the table, Financier?" Ram adds.

"Thank you, Master Ram. If you can, can you please set the cups and utensils?" answers Financier, flattered by her offer.

While everyone feels as if this is a happy resolution to Blanc's sudden appearance, Nepgear still remembers one thing missing. "Wait! Shouldn't we wait for Neptune?"

"Nep...tune?" From her short memory, the brash purple-haired pantless girl and the time she whacked her on the head with a thick book is especially hair-raising and enough to send her to a panic. "You mean she's here too?!"

"No, it's just a jest!" Vert quickly refutes before whispering to Nepgear, "I think it's best if we deal with her later."

"You're right," she whispers back. Then, to Blanc, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that…"

"Er, it's okay." Among these unfamiliar figures, this other purple-haired girl seems to be one of the more likeable and least hateable characters.

Nepgear smiles back. "Now, let's get dinner started!"


i would like to stop being a slow writer but dang, college and its so called "midterms" are really hard


"Nep...tune?" From her short memory, the brash purple-haired pantless girl and the time she whacked her on the head with a thick book is especially hair-raising and enough to send her to a panic. "You mean she's here too?!"

"Yep, here in the flesh and blood!" From right behind her, Neptune stands there with a large grin. "I was busy getting this large baseball bat-shaped book!" she says, swinging the aforementioned book around.

"Wh- ahh!" Blanc instantly recoils away from her, only bump into someone. "Ah, I'm s-" She instantly stops her apology when she turns around.

"Whoa, that's pretty cool, Mini-me! Check out this oversized Nep-Note I got!" Everyone else in the kitchen is laying on floor knocked out. In their place stands a taller Neptune holding her book in front of her. "Now, just one more..."

"U-um..." Blanc could only stand there, shivering, as the two menacingly approach her, ready to swing.