At this point, I learned that any chance meeting is not by chance if Neptune is even remotely involved.
-Isabelle "IF" Fontaine, 19 years old
""""Happy Birthday!"""", numerous voices called out as an almost literal wall of confetti rained down on her.
IF was... conflicted about how to feel. She already expected something to happen, even had a few suspicions, but this was silly. She had just returned from her morning run, sweaty and with a satisfying tingle through all of her muscles, thinking about the next few days, when veritable truckloads of people jumped out of every corner.
In the end, all she could do was stand there dumbfounded and watch the younger children beam at her, smiling as if they were just given a year's worth of candy. Compa was around as well, a little further back and also sprinkled with confetti; right next to her stood Neptune and Nepgear. The former appeared rather pleased for some reason, the latter was busy protecting a large cake from the children... and Neptune.
Basically all of the staffmembers were there, too. They were scattered throughout the large room, with Mari helping Nepgear protect the cake. Even Gabriel and Alexis were around
"Um, I think we broke her?"
Nepgear's words slowly brought IF back to her senses, making her rub her temples in a vain attempt to rationalise this situation. She also had to fight down a blush because this was quite frankly embarassing. Not that anyone cared, seeing that Neptune threw more confetti; as if on cue, all the children began to mob her with cheers, somehow getting the slightest bit of order into their arguments of who got to hug her first.
Unfortunately for IF, for every boy or girl that went into her arms, two more took their place. It was an opponent she stood powerless against, social interactions. They did not let her take any space, apparently not caring at all that the person they were hugging had just run several kilometres and was smelling accordingly.
Then however, a loud clap gave the little ones pause and made them disperse a little as Mari wandered closer. The by now middle-aged woman held a sympathetic smile and motioned for the bathrooms. "Now, children. Be dears and let her wash up first." Then her eyes turned to IF herself. "We start once you're ready."
IF's relief was almost palpable, though even if it was, it would have been drowned out by the renewed cheering. The young woman just shook her head, noting how everyone else was more excited about this than she was, and made her way out of the room she had been lured into. Yet she could not help but feel warm about seeing so many people being there just for her.
::
Meanwhile, close to the birthday cake, Nepgear and Compa were bumping fists about a surprise well done. Both of them wore bright smiles, though neither was at ease; there were too many hungry stares directed at their payload for them to be.
"It did work out really well," Compa noted as she watched IF leave the room. "I mean, she probably knew something was up anyway, but she looked really surprised there."
"Yep." Nepgear gently redirected her rogue sister trying to crawl under the table, not even taking her eyes off of Compa as she did. "It was a chore to get this set up, but it was definitely worth going the extra mile." The fact IF took hours of exercise every day helped in contacting everyone without her noticing.
"I agree," Alexis entered their conversation with a smile, the darker skinned woman giving them both a thumbs up as she came to stand next to them. "Nice to see you again, uh... sorry, it's been a while. What was your name?"
"It's Compa," the younger woman told her with a smile, to which the older one nodded sagely.
"Ah, right. I'm Alexis." They shook hands, the younger one delighted over meeting someone new, the older one amused by the reaction. Then Alexis threw Nepgear a wink. "Looking good in glasses there."
The purplette blushed a little and fiddled with the frame of said glasses, still not entirely comfortable with the teasing compliments. They had started the moment she began to wear them right after her introduction, seeing how her HDD was so similar to her civilian form that she needed something to prevent people from recognising her. A small form of comeuppance for not telling the rest of their team.
By herself, Nepgear was only glad that those glasses actually helped disguise her, and that she got herself a cute design.
Then again, while the glasses could protect her from some recognition, they did not prevent the flood of requests to star in commercials, from breakfast cereal to undergarments; granted, every CPU got those once in a while and on a constant basis, but it was tiresome nonetheless.
"It is quite a cute pair," a new voice joined them; turning, the three women found Mari approaching their group. The older woman offered Nepgear a smile, which made her nod reluctantly while Alexis chuckled. Then however, Mari's gaze turned into concern. "Did your eyes get worse recently?"
Before Nepgear could respond however, Alexis poked her with an elbow and a mean smirk. "Guess that happens when you keep watching porn before bed." She had her voice lowered so the children could not overhear, but the adults all did; Mari chuckled while Compa blushed over the topic.
Nepgear, however, turned an incomprehending look at Alexis. "I, uh, don't. As you should know, because you kept asking until we told you two months ago. Get yourself a girlfriend, that is both better for you and won't give you weird expectations for actual sex." The nonchalance with which she returned this made Compa flush a deeper shade of red and wiped the grin off of Alexis' face. Mari, who had been married for a few years by this point, grimaced in sympathy.
"You know, it's not that easy," Alexis began, but did not continue when Nepgear just raised an eyebrow at her.
"There are quite a few reputable escorts as well," she offered, to which Mari broke into chuckles again while Compa blinked at the exchange. Alexis also blinked, though mostly over the response she got.
Then the older woman sighed and bowed her head. "Okay, fair. You win this one." Nepgear smiled then, hoping that this was the last they heard about the matter. Not to mention that it had been a good distraction from the topic of her glasses.
"It's good to see you get along so well," Mari noted with a weak smile. Her eyes wandered over the three women. "My little girl found a lot of dependable friends recently."
Alexis immediately latched onto the topic, offering the older woman a mirthful smile. "Yeah, she's a dear. As her surrogate mom, maybe you should start telling us embarassing stories about her." Both of them had a laugh over that while Nepgear and Compa exchanged uncomfortable looks about the topic, mostly out of sympathy for IF.
However, they were distracted by one of the younger girls running up to them with little steps. Her eyes were big and curious, framed by blonde hair; she gently pulled on Nepgear's sleeve to get her attention, with the Candidate acting as if she had not seen her already. "Oh, hello there. Do you need something?" She spoke softly, with a gentle smile that two of the other three had not seen before.
The little one did not waste a single moment. "Can you take your glasses off, miss?" She asked without hesitation, making Nepgear blink in surprise; this was not among the questions she expected. She did it nonetheless, slipping a hand under the frame and pulling them off her face; the girl squealed happily, beaming up at her. "You look just like the Lady!"
Compa and Alexis tried to hide their sympathetic smiles while Mari's eyebrow rose over the comment. The pinkette considered Nepgear for a long moment, who chuckled in an attempt to play over the statement.
Then a cloud of confetti rained down on Nepgear, courtesy of a grinning Neptune. "If you still look like that, you didn't have enough yet!" she yelled cheerfully while plucking another handful out of the bag she carried.
"Ah, sis! Stop!" Nepgear all but squeaked as she fled the assault of paper pieces, a cackling Neptune hot on her heels. The merry chase made its way through the entire room, decorating more furniture and random people with confetti than Nepgear herself. The children cheered for them, some for Nepgear to flee and some for Neptune to catch her.
The small group by the cake smiled over the sight, watching the sisters play for a moment. Mari remained thoughtful, though. "Now that Louise mentioned it... she does look the part. Only the hair needed to be a little more pink." She considered what to make of that while the other two exchanged a glance.
Alexis was now aware of just who she had been working with for the past two years, but had no idea how to react to the situation even after getting over her awe. Meanwhile, Compa simply shrugged in response and offered the older woman a smile. "Nepgear remains Nepgear either way, so I think it doesn't matter."
That brought the youngest of the three a nod and a smile from the oldest. Mari actually reached out to pet Compa's head, be it out of reflex after being around so many children or because she saw it appropriate. "That is a good view to have." For her part, Compa smiled as well and accepted the gesture without complaint.
Once Mari had let go of her, the three of them all took a step back to dodge a ballistic party hat; the projectile drew their attention back to the sisters, who were merrily running around the increasingly messy room.
At that moment, Nepgear quickly cartwheeled around a support beam and hid from the next volley of confetti. Neptune eagerly bounced up and down in front of it, waiting for her sister to peek around. "Stop resisting and accept your fate!" the older purplette called out cheerfully.
"Never," the younger one called back from behind her cover, then went on the offensive; Nepgear threw a load of confetti at her sister and dashed out of cover, right at her.
When she jumped to get away over Neptune however, for a moment, Alexis and Compa could see how much they surpassed them; completely ignoring the distraction, Neptune raised her hands and fished her sister out of the air with ease, quickly twirling around and capturing Nepgear in a princess carry. "Haha!" she called out, "I caught a cute girl! Nep wins!"
She then proceeded to put Nepgear down while the children cheered at her, laughing happily. The women all smiled and Compa almost clapped in delight. "Nep-Nep really knows how to make children happy."
Both Mari and Alexis agreed quietly, though the latter also felt conflicted. Upon finding out that Nepgear was one of her rulers, she had quickly caught on who the other was. Seeing her like this, so completely unlike her public self, made Alexis wonder.
. .
. .
A bit later, IF returned. Her coat had been exchanged for another one of the same kind, which drew some remarks from Neptune, and her hair was still damp from the quick shower.
Before Nepgear could move in to dry her friend with magic however, some of the younger children were already there and ushered her to sit down so they could get at her. Miniature flames danced around the amused IF, warming her.
She knew that at least one of her friends was thinking something on the lines that she could dry herself that way if she actually learned how to, but the birthday girl had long since put ideas like these past herself. Her magic would likely never be that good, and there was no sense crying over spilled milk.
Additionally, she noticed that those around her were all smiling for one reason or another. Seeing this put IF at ease and she failed to even mind when Compa and Neptune came to hug her. Nepgear, Gabriel, and Alexis followed after them, but left it at handshakes. For some reason, the two humans winced when she put some force into those; the CPU only smiled back at her.
The party that followed kept going for a long while, leaving IF in a weird mood toward the evening. She still shook confetti out of her hair and could feel the slight burn of having a stomach filled with nothing but cake; her smile was small but genuine. This Saturday had been nice for her.
However, the melancholy would not want to leave entirely; it kept lingering as she looked around her room, stripped bare of her few personal effects. They had been placed in the two cardboard boxes at the wall.
She had lived in this place for the last twelve years; having to leave it now made her feel weird. IF knew it had been inevitable, but now the day had arrived.
Her chest tightened as she considered this; she was an adult now, at least legally. She would begin to live in her own place starting tomorrow, and work regular shifts at the Guild come Monday. Of course Mari had told her she could visit anytime, but IF already knew it would not be the same.
She sat down on her bed, eyes closed and quivering. It was not a farewell, she told herself.
Gradually, IF calmed herself and relaxed, falling to the side and onto the quilt with a deep sigh. She had considered staying with Compa for a bit when her friend made the offer, but ultimately declined; burdening a friend like that was not what she wanted. After looking around for the last few months, she had found a nice two-room flat downtown. It was even near the ground floor, the building it belonged to being close to the Guild HQ.
Slowly working herself under the covers, IF knew that this was the beginning of a new chapter in her life.
. .
. .
As evening turned to night and Nicos began to fall into slumber, Neptune was at work. A small stack of papers rested in front of her, quickly being depleted while soft music played over the purplette's headset.
Her computer screen remained active though unattended, mainly required for the music and Disco. Noire and Blanc, Black Heart and White Heart, were currently conversing over one thing or other in the voicechat while Neptune worked; she paid little attention to them, though attention was payed in case her friends gave a good opportunity for teasing.
"Actually, Neptune?" Noire gathered the purplette's attention by calling her name; the light scratching of pen on paper became a little softer as she slowed down, casting a glance at the text chat but finding nothing of relevance. "Yep yep?"
Her chirped response prompted no reaction as Noire was long since used to her antics, but Neptune did not expect any. She had other ways for that. Her old friend spoke up after a moment of consideration: "I was just thinking. That birthday you mentioned attending, that was IF's, wasn't it?"
"Yep, it was." Neptune hummed for a moment as she pressed her seal at the bottom of a document and put it aside. "I had loads of fun."
"IF? Who is that?" Blanc's usual monotone held a glint of curiousity, underlined by the faint clacking of keys one could hear from her end.
Noire was the one to explain with a bit of mirth: "Neptune's top secret."
It only took these three words to say it all and they both knew. The purplette sighed theatrically at being found out, but figured Noire had already known for a long time. Her friends were sharp and Uni talked to her sister.
"Yeah, cat's out the bag now," she admitted cheerfully. "She will be my third Maker."
There was a momentary lull in their conversation as Blanc considered this; she had never met IF or even just heard of her, at least not directly. She could guess who it was based on at least one incident involving an Ancient Dragon that got international attention, Neptune knew, but that was likely not on the forefront of Blanc's mind.
"Is this girl really worth going a year without a third Maker?" The question was justified; their Makers were basically their right hands, taking over jobs that had to be done but the CPUs themselves did not have time for. With Purple Sister and soon Black Sister joining the fray, that burden was of course lessened by a bit, but keeping the entire globe safe remained too much for just six people, let alone four.
Yet it also was the most prestigious position one could hold aside from the seat of Oracle. Handpicked by the rulers, Makers stood as heroes in the public eye. Each one was as much of a PR move as they were taken to battle, martial celebrities to hold up morale. Leaving a seat empty for longer periods of time was not unheard of, if rare.
Neptune, however, smiled. "It will be a little longer, she still needs some time. But yes, Blanc. She is worth the wait."
"I concur," Noire noted curtly, though the softness in her tone was not missed by either of the others. "Aside from trusting Neptune's judgement, I got a look at the girl myself. Blanc, she turned eighteen today." The silence that followed was telling; Blanc knew as well as Neptune and Noire that gaining their attention like this was outstanding.
Then a fourth voice piped in, soft and melodic: "You are aware of what you are implying?" Vert joined their conversation just like that, having entered the voicechat unnoticed. Seeing that she knew what was going on, Neptune reasoned that she had been there for a bit.
Noire smoothly replied, a hint of amusement quite audible: "I am. I am also looking forward to her appointment; she is an admirable girl."
"My, how very interesting," Vert allowed gently. She was obviously curious, but Neptune knew her friend was not going to come over to check; she would be patient and wait until it was time.
Blanc told her similarly with her uncaring "We'll see".