lovechildren shenanigans
Shirley hadn't planned on doing much today. She'd planned to wake up, probably around one in the afternoon (in actuality she made it to two - great success), have some pizza for breakfast, and then laze around the inn while she waited for Akane and the other island-born children - now teenagers - to get home from school, if for nothing else so that she could have something to do while her parents were visiting their mother's world for the week.
... Or was today a Sunday? A day off? Shirley wasn't sure, now that she thought about it. Even so, most everyone else should be out and about, Akane included... Well, it didn't really matter one way or the other. She would go look whenever she felt like it, if she felt so inclined at all. For now, she had her plans, and that was all that mattered.
Naturally, her other sister arriving out of the blue threw a nice little wrench into her extensive plans for the day. Still, as Fiona walked into the inn's lobby, where Shirley was eating, and tossed her (formerly her father's) helmet onto a mat, her expression was simply its usual, bored looking one. An eyebrow raised as she continued to munch away, Shirley chose to watch in silence and wait for Fiona to speak - of course, she did so right away.
"Whew...! Man, Shirley! The newest one was such a blast!" A wide grin on her face, Fiona sat down across from Shirley, sweeping a hand through her hair before giving her cape a flourish as she placed her hand on her helmet. "They actually had their own Knightmares this time, if you can believe it. But none of them could stand up to me, as usual. This makes... Hmmm..."
"Two hundred and twelve," Shirley remarked casually, rolling her eyes at Fiona lighting up at the number. Really, how many more would it take to satisfy her?
"Almost to a quarter thousand then! Hahahaha!" The girl threw her hands up in the air, and for just a moment, Shirley paused to watch her sister. More and more, her laugh sounded genuinely... ... No, it wasn't important. It didn't involve her anyway. "Maybe I should try something like Papa did in the next one. Except instead of 'Zero'..." Fiona slowly traced a figure-eight on the helmet's visor, her smile growing wicked. "How about Infinity!? Sounds good, right?"
"Infinity? Why Infinity?" Shirley couldn't help but smirk, just a little bit, as Fiona waited for further respone and took some of Shirley's meal - a feat not many could manage in the face of a girl who had conquered and now ruled over two hundred worlds. That was what happened when you grew up with them, she supposed. "Is that your target weight?"
To say that there were people out there who thought "Zero", the cruel and ruthless conquerer, was uncapable of things like blushing would be an understatement. To say that those people would probably have dropped dead had they seen her reaction to her sister's teasing would have beenthe undersatement of the century.
"H-Hey! I'm in perfect shape!" Fiona crossed her arms, dropping the snack she'd just taken as she did and shook her head. The defiant look... It was completely unbefitting of a ruler like her, and yet here she was, a ruler - perhaps, no, definitely a killer - all the same.
... Ah well. It still wasn't Shirley's business. At least Fiona put down her food.
"So you wear black only because Papa used to? My mistake," Shirley chose to ignore Fiona's eyes snapping for a moment, almost comically clenching her fists into little balls. Truly, only one's sibling could know the little weaknesses like this. Only she and Akane knew Fiona, because she "had to look good for her peons", was very concerned about her weight. "Well, whatever. So why Infinity?"
The wicked smile quickly returned at the sound of the potential name, and Fiona leaned forward, making an exaggerated hand gesture (one, Shirley assumed, her father would be quite proud of had he seen it) as she answered her sister.
"That's how many I want."
"... How many what?" Shirley knew exactly what her sister meant, but she might as well have Fiona clarify. She just wanted to eat anyway.
"How many worlds! There's countless ones, right?" Shirley simply chose to reach for a drink to sip and nod; Fiona, meanwhile, had stood up, her grin growing even more twisted. It was no wonder small children were terrified to the point of tears of this young woman. Shirley almost smiled at the thought. Almost. "With each new one I take, five more are out there waiting for me. And there's never an 'end', you know Shirley? Just more and more and more!"
"What if someone tries to take one back?" came Shirley's quiet response, now not even raising her eyes from her drink.
"They don't," That was the only reply Shirley got. Shirley didn't need to ask any more than that - from the lowered voice and contorted expression on Fiona's face, it seemed like she'd already encountered such a thing. What Shirley hadn't encountered before, however, was Fiona saying what she said next. "If I even give them a chance for that, I'm not very good at this, now am I, Shirley?"
Leaving the question unanswered, Fiona stood and left, saying something like she was going to take a bath and then a nap before she left for numbers two-thirteen through two-forty. At last, now Shirley could finish her meal.
... Well, almost. She raised her head and glanced towards the opposite hallway, still looking as bored as ever, and called out.
"She's gone, you know. You can come out."
With that, after what sounded like hiccups, the last of these three triplets slowly emerged from her hiding spot. Her eyes were red, and it appeared as though she'd hastily wiped her face before showing herself... No, it wouldn't take a genius to see that she'd been crying.
"You heard all that, right?" Shirley, expression unchanging, simply passed her napkin to her sister as she joined her at the table. Dabbing at her eyes with the piece of cloth, breath shaking, Akane vi Brittanni nodded. "And? What do you think?"
"Wha... What do I think?" Akane repeated, blinking a few times. She wiped at her eyes again, seemingly growing somewhat calmer, before taking a strand of hair to stroke and speaking again. "About Fiona, you mean?"
"Obviously." Really, if Shirley wasn't more concerned with sipping her tea, she would have made a comment about being the only smart one of the triplets. Though she supposed that was more obvious than what she was already pointing out... The things she had to deal with. It just couldn't be helped.
"W-Well..." Shirley watched, silent now, as Akane slowly regained her composure, before a smile - one that certainly wasn't quite honest - formed. It was an irritating smile that Shirley was noticing had been appearing more and more often lately, but it would have been too much trouble to point that out on top of everything else. Akane probably knew that that wasn't a truthful smile as well as she did anyway. "This... This is what makes her happy, isn't it? So I can't really... I mean, who am I to--"
"Two hundred and twelve entire worlds, filled with people," Shirley interrupted, raising her gaze to the direction in which their sister had left in a few moments earlier. Her voice took a cold tone, and she turned sharply to Akane - this time, Shirley wanted the point to get across. "You know there's no way she still hasn't killed someone, right? Or is that okay with you? Because they were from another world, or just because that's what makes her happy?"
Shirley didn't need to wait for Akane to splutter out a word - not that she could even manage that right then - to see if the point had gotten across. Fresh tears were welling up, and she looked like she had just been slapped. Stabbed might have been a better word, quite frankly, but contrary to popular opinion (and her own mouth), Shirley didn't really like entertaining violent thoughts like that.
"It... It makes her happy. She doesn't hurt anyone from this world..." She was quiet at first, but by the end of her sentence, her voice was filled with a firmness only Akane could muster at times like. It was filled with conviction. An unwavering grip on her beliefs.
Naturally, Shirley knew it was filled with denial.
There was little she could do as Akane smiled at her and said something about preparing dinner, before she toddled off to the kitchen to cook like the housewife-to-be she was. Not that she would have done anything anyway. Too much trouble, after all. That was how Shirley did things.
Finally alone at last... To her surprise, Shirley found that her mood wasn't quite as high as it should have been. She sighed and shook her head, lowering her gaze to her tea. She should have just taken it to her room when Fiona had arrived.
"This is something they have to work out themselves."
... Or was today a Sunday? A day off? Shirley wasn't sure, now that she thought about it. Even so, most everyone else should be out and about, Akane included... Well, it didn't really matter one way or the other. She would go look whenever she felt like it, if she felt so inclined at all. For now, she had her plans, and that was all that mattered.
Naturally, her other sister arriving out of the blue threw a nice little wrench into her extensive plans for the day. Still, as Fiona walked into the inn's lobby, where Shirley was eating, and tossed her (formerly her father's) helmet onto a mat, her expression was simply its usual, bored looking one. An eyebrow raised as she continued to munch away, Shirley chose to watch in silence and wait for Fiona to speak - of course, she did so right away.
"Whew...! Man, Shirley! The newest one was such a blast!" A wide grin on her face, Fiona sat down across from Shirley, sweeping a hand through her hair before giving her cape a flourish as she placed her hand on her helmet. "They actually had their own Knightmares this time, if you can believe it. But none of them could stand up to me, as usual. This makes... Hmmm..."
"Two hundred and twelve," Shirley remarked casually, rolling her eyes at Fiona lighting up at the number. Really, how many more would it take to satisfy her?
"Almost to a quarter thousand then! Hahahaha!" The girl threw her hands up in the air, and for just a moment, Shirley paused to watch her sister. More and more, her laugh sounded genuinely... ... No, it wasn't important. It didn't involve her anyway. "Maybe I should try something like Papa did in the next one. Except instead of 'Zero'..." Fiona slowly traced a figure-eight on the helmet's visor, her smile growing wicked. "How about Infinity!? Sounds good, right?"
"Infinity? Why Infinity?" Shirley couldn't help but smirk, just a little bit, as Fiona waited for further respone and took some of Shirley's meal - a feat not many could manage in the face of a girl who had conquered and now ruled over two hundred worlds. That was what happened when you grew up with them, she supposed. "Is that your target weight?"
To say that there were people out there who thought "Zero", the cruel and ruthless conquerer, was uncapable of things like blushing would be an understatement. To say that those people would probably have dropped dead had they seen her reaction to her sister's teasing would have beenthe undersatement of the century.
"H-Hey! I'm in perfect shape!" Fiona crossed her arms, dropping the snack she'd just taken as she did and shook her head. The defiant look... It was completely unbefitting of a ruler like her, and yet here she was, a ruler - perhaps, no, definitely a killer - all the same.
... Ah well. It still wasn't Shirley's business. At least Fiona put down her food.
"So you wear black only because Papa used to? My mistake," Shirley chose to ignore Fiona's eyes snapping for a moment, almost comically clenching her fists into little balls. Truly, only one's sibling could know the little weaknesses like this. Only she and Akane knew Fiona, because she "had to look good for her peons", was very concerned about her weight. "Well, whatever. So why Infinity?"
The wicked smile quickly returned at the sound of the potential name, and Fiona leaned forward, making an exaggerated hand gesture (one, Shirley assumed, her father would be quite proud of had he seen it) as she answered her sister.
"That's how many I want."
"... How many what?" Shirley knew exactly what her sister meant, but she might as well have Fiona clarify. She just wanted to eat anyway.
"How many worlds! There's countless ones, right?" Shirley simply chose to reach for a drink to sip and nod; Fiona, meanwhile, had stood up, her grin growing even more twisted. It was no wonder small children were terrified to the point of tears of this young woman. Shirley almost smiled at the thought. Almost. "With each new one I take, five more are out there waiting for me. And there's never an 'end', you know Shirley? Just more and more and more!"
"What if someone tries to take one back?" came Shirley's quiet response, now not even raising her eyes from her drink.
"They don't," That was the only reply Shirley got. Shirley didn't need to ask any more than that - from the lowered voice and contorted expression on Fiona's face, it seemed like she'd already encountered such a thing. What Shirley hadn't encountered before, however, was Fiona saying what she said next. "If I even give them a chance for that, I'm not very good at this, now am I, Shirley?"
Leaving the question unanswered, Fiona stood and left, saying something like she was going to take a bath and then a nap before she left for numbers two-thirteen through two-forty. At last, now Shirley could finish her meal.
... Well, almost. She raised her head and glanced towards the opposite hallway, still looking as bored as ever, and called out.
"She's gone, you know. You can come out."
With that, after what sounded like hiccups, the last of these three triplets slowly emerged from her hiding spot. Her eyes were red, and it appeared as though she'd hastily wiped her face before showing herself... No, it wouldn't take a genius to see that she'd been crying.
"You heard all that, right?" Shirley, expression unchanging, simply passed her napkin to her sister as she joined her at the table. Dabbing at her eyes with the piece of cloth, breath shaking, Akane vi Brittanni nodded. "And? What do you think?"
"Wha... What do I think?" Akane repeated, blinking a few times. She wiped at her eyes again, seemingly growing somewhat calmer, before taking a strand of hair to stroke and speaking again. "About Fiona, you mean?"
"Obviously." Really, if Shirley wasn't more concerned with sipping her tea, she would have made a comment about being the only smart one of the triplets. Though she supposed that was more obvious than what she was already pointing out... The things she had to deal with. It just couldn't be helped.
"W-Well..." Shirley watched, silent now, as Akane slowly regained her composure, before a smile - one that certainly wasn't quite honest - formed. It was an irritating smile that Shirley was noticing had been appearing more and more often lately, but it would have been too much trouble to point that out on top of everything else. Akane probably knew that that wasn't a truthful smile as well as she did anyway. "This... This is what makes her happy, isn't it? So I can't really... I mean, who am I to--"
"Two hundred and twelve entire worlds, filled with people," Shirley interrupted, raising her gaze to the direction in which their sister had left in a few moments earlier. Her voice took a cold tone, and she turned sharply to Akane - this time, Shirley wanted the point to get across. "You know there's no way she still hasn't killed someone, right? Or is that okay with you? Because they were from another world, or just because that's what makes her happy?"
Shirley didn't need to wait for Akane to splutter out a word - not that she could even manage that right then - to see if the point had gotten across. Fresh tears were welling up, and she looked like she had just been slapped. Stabbed might have been a better word, quite frankly, but contrary to popular opinion (and her own mouth), Shirley didn't really like entertaining violent thoughts like that.
"It... It makes her happy. She doesn't hurt anyone from this world..." She was quiet at first, but by the end of her sentence, her voice was filled with a firmness only Akane could muster at times like. It was filled with conviction. An unwavering grip on her beliefs.
Naturally, Shirley knew it was filled with denial.
There was little she could do as Akane smiled at her and said something about preparing dinner, before she toddled off to the kitchen to cook like the housewife-to-be she was. Not that she would have done anything anyway. Too much trouble, after all. That was how Shirley did things.
Finally alone at last... To her surprise, Shirley found that her mood wasn't quite as high as it should have been. She sighed and shook her head, lowering her gaze to her tea. She should have just taken it to her room when Fiona had arrived.
"This is something they have to work out themselves."