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As she makes her final preparations, she couldn't help but to look back on what brought her to this point. 'I can't believe something as simple as a casual debate snowballed to here'
It all started one day, in the square where most living in Tokyo spent their time since there wasn't much to do if you weren't a merchant, D.C.E member or in the Hunter Association. A group of teenagers decided to mill about in the plaza section.
"Ugh, I can't believe how boring it is here." Ruth complains, her hair being a mix of pink and blue tied separately ponytails ruffled from how fervently she's been shaking her head.
Cathy rolls her eyes, already exasperated from her friend's antics. "Is it that hard for you to not complain every five seconds you cotton candy for brains?" As she makes that remark, Cathy goes back to readjusting her cat headband which has already gotten tangled in her magenta hair, the simple tuxedo cat ears a contrast to her bright colored hair.
"Well, I'm not the one with the silly headband!"
"How dare you insult my choice of accessory when you look like a clown!"
Nimue laughs at her friends and their usual banter while Maiko and Norma attempt to keep the two from actually fighting.
"Now now, you two, no need for name calling." Maiko attempts to calm her arguing friends with Norma adding her two cents.
"Yeah, we have more important things to discuss."
"I agree, we have a very important matter to discuss. Who do you gals think is the most handsome masked figure in current history?" Becka declares, having arrived fashionably late with Cleo in tow.
"Clearly Conrad is the winner." Cathy said with determination.
"Sirius." Norma states plainly, as if it wasn't up to debate. She stands tall with even her hair buns in her violet colored hair being orderly.
"Bruno." Cleo whispers as she finishes tying her purple hair ribbons in her sky blue hair.
"Jeritza." Nimue voices her pick.
"Mine is Volke." Maiko states simply.
"Saizo!" Becka declares boldly. Her matching head bangles with Cleo is just as much of a statement as her bright highlights in her blonde hair.
"No, you all are wrong, it's Marth!" Ruth smugly says.
"Well…” Maiko concludes while readjusting the tie in her orange haired ponytail. "Looks like we're inconclusive with our findings."
"Conrad? Of all people, you pick that lameo?!? At least Sirus and Marth are way cuter. " Ruth remarks, her face twisting in disgust at the thought of someone she considers unattractive.
"You think Conrad is the worst pick? At least he actually wears a mask, while you picked… Marth?!? You're joking right? Do you seriously think Marth wears a mask?" Cathy shoots back in disbelief with what she just heard.
"Of course he does! Why else would he have the epitaph of 'Masked Marth?'
Norma facepalms and then adds "This is getting ridiculous, 'Masked Marth' isn't even the actual Marth, that's Lucina wearing a mask and pretending to be her ancestor!"
"Lies! You're lying to me!"
The bickering and shouting gets to the point where one of the nearby guards starts yelling at the group to shut up.
"Maybe we should conclude our hang out for today." Maiko sighs, since it's clear this discussion is getting out of hand.
"I had fun today, I wish we had some sort of way to organize more things like this." Cleo says softly
"You make a good point Cleo, say, we should make a school club or something!" Becka declares with confidence.
"A school club?!?" Everyone else asks in sync.
"Yeah" Becka said, liking the idea the more she ponders it, "I know we don't have an actual school to form a club from but it'd be nice to have a common cause that wasn't D.C.E or Hunter related."
"But how would we even make it work? Don't we need a uniform and money so we don't starve or something?" Cathy asks out of concern.
"I'm pretty sure we can figure things out as we go." Maiko replies confidently. "Our first step would be gaining supplies and maybe we should find somewhere to meet up besides here."
"If you guys want, we could have a sleepover at my place." Nimue offers, her tone unsure of how they'll take the invitation.
"Great idea Nimue!" Ruth responds with pep. "I have just the movies for this occasion, I need to hurry to see if my big sis knows where I left them." Ruth speeds off back to her place, leaving the remaining group behind.
"Ruth, you idiot! Don't just run off like that." Cathy yells after Ruth, quickly trying to catch up leaving everyone else to laugh at yet another typical conclusion to their meetings.
Timeskip
The seven friends bond over watching some movies at Ruth's house this time.
"I can't believe you were holding out on us." Norma said, in disbelief over a perceived slight.
"Yeah, last time you brought that lame Fates trilogy when you should have brought this movie instead! This movie has much better pacing and the storytelling actually makes sense and is consistent." Cathy said, seeming lost in thought.
"Yeah, who knew that the persona 3 movies were such a cult classic?" Becka said with enthusiasm.
"Hey, that reminds me, don't you think the school uniforms in those movies look kinda cool? Wouldn't it be great if that was our school uniforms? Ruth asks, tilting her head in a thinking position.
"For once we agree on something Ruth." Cathy said, reluctant but willing to concede the point.
"What do you think Nimue?" Maiko asks, taking all her friends' opinions into consideration.
Nimue considers her friends' suggestion. From what she can tell, making a more simplistic version of the school uniforms of Gekkoukan High School seems manageable if she can find the right tailor and materials, she just needs to figure out the right concept sketch to sell the tailor on. "I think it's doable, just give me time to sketch out some ideas and I'll show everyone once I'm satisfied with the result."
"I can look to see if there's any fabric or abandoned clothes factories to see if we can find any materials." Becka adds
"Big sis Dentifrice knows people, she can probably find out info for us!" Ruth said
Someone walks into the living room. Her blue and red hair split in the middle and seemed to flow past her shoulders, her fair skin almost glowed in the dim light given off from the old retro TV. "Did someone say my name?" The woman asks, this being Dentifrice that Ruth had casually mentioned and her big sister. "I'm a Hunter worth her salt, if information is what you want, then I can find it easy."
"Deeeeeee" Ruth starts pleading, her two colored eyes almost shiny with unshed tears, "Can you please help us find some tailors and locations for any abandoned clothes factories?"
Dentifrice sighs, too used to her little sister pulling the puppy dog eyes and knowing full well Ruth would never shut up unless she gives in.
"Fine Rue, you're lucky I was just about to head over to the Hunter Association to look for another job. I'll see what I can manage to dig up."
"Thanks big sis, you're the bestest!" She runs to engulf her sister with a big hug.
"Well," Maiko says after witnessing that display, "I guess we have something to work with in terms of future goals."
*Another timeskip, a few weeks after that sleepover*
Nimue was rushing to make it to the meeting point, especially when they still needed to go over the plans for gathering the supplies needed to make their plans a reality but also so she'd have more time to fine tune her concept sketch for the uniforms.
As she hurried to the meeting point, she happened to glance over at a group of DCE members milling around near the town square.
From the looks of the uniform, some sort of samurai themed coat over top a plain blue military type shirt (think SMT 4 Samurai outfit but with a blue shirt underneath), this looks like a Altea branch or at least from the Archanea sector. Pretty oddball bunch what with the single old man and… is that two people with some of the weirdest tattoos??? Why do they look like someone punched them with a branding iron? But upon further inspection Nimue couldn't help but notice one person in particular. While she was lost in her thoughts, the group decided to split off and go their separate ways.
Likely to stock up on supplies for some sort of cool mission she muses, keeping in mind what direction a certain member went off in. Now remembering why she was in a rush originally, Nimue quickly made it to her friends.
"Yo Nimue, what took ya so long? You're usually one of the first ones here." Norma asks, concerned for her friend.
"Sorry, sorry. Just got delayed unexpectedly but… I'm almost done with the rough sketch so hopefully I'll be able to show you guys soon." Nimue replied.
"Well, no need to rush if you still need time. We can start the meeting while you finish up." Said Maiko. "I think our first order of business is to check for updates on our situation and then start the debate topic, what do you have for us Ruth?"
"Let's see…" Ruth digs into her bag and then does a pose once she grabs her tablet and continues, "I already talked to my sister about our plans and possible leads which I have on this tablet. And I think Becka and Cleo went to go grab the last of the supplies we need besides the material for the uniforms."
"Wow, I'm surprised you managed to remember all that considering how you normally act." Cathy remarks, in such a way you could tell she had her low expectations surpassed.
"Hey! I'm not that bad ya know."
"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night…"
"Girls please, get back on track." Maiko said.
Meanwhile Nimue went back to her sketching while her friends were arguing. Hopefully Cleo brings back some snacks from one of the food stalls… With that thought in mind, she tunes back into the conversation.
"So, who do y'all think is the most handsome hero?" Norma asks
"Well, obviously it's that Xane character. Don't you think he's dreamy?" Cathy says with a wistful look in her eyes.
Ruth responds to this opinion with: "You seriously think Xane is the most handsome? I knew your taste was bad when you said Conrad was better than Sirius but come on"
"Hey! I resent that remark. You do know Sirius is the same dude as Camus and Zeke right?"
"This is worst than when you thought Marth wore a mask!" Norma adds in to the debate.
Ruth looks shocked by the information being presented before responding "He does too wear a mask, tell them pres!"
Maiko facepalms out of exasperation, she's not getting paid enough for this.
"Goddess have mercy, I thought we settled this debate last time.....” *sigh*
The girls continued to argue as Nimue struggles to regain her focus on her finishing touches especially when she swears she just saw that weird person with the Tokyo group with the odd tattoo from the corner of her eye.
"Nimue? Are you alright?" Maiko asks, with worry clear in her voice.
"Sorry, sorry, I spaced out for a minute…" Nimue replied, still distracted.
"Oh heh, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your little daydream hehe."
"No no umm, I was just finishing the final touches for the sketch of our uniform."
"Wonderful hehe but please don't rush. We aren't in that much of a hurry."
"Yep yep, I promise I won't rush, just let me finish up real quick..."
"Oh yes of course. I'll be um, you know, dealing with this dispute hehe."
"Of course, don't let me keep you Mai.” Nimue says and then once her friend was out of earshot… *Blushes*
"So...handsome…" she says as she looks at her other sketch underneath the uniform concept page. Thank the goddess there's still physical sketchbooks because it makes it so much easier to hide drawings.
*Transition to orphan district here*
The friends have now established a way to travel and a foundation for their club (even if it's not the usual definition of the term).
They start discussing their current plans while Nimue is glancing around looking for inspiration.
"Becka brought her boyfriend Vlad to see if we can recruit anyone in other parts of this district. After all, divide and conquer is the best way to spread all these flyers out!" Norma almost shouts to the rest of the group.
"You know we're not deaf right?" Cathy replies, "also we're not exactly locals here so stop bringing attention to us unnecessarily!"
"How'd you even find this much paper to do flyers anyway? Isn't everything mostly digital now?" Maiko questions Ruth who somehow is balancing the still large pile of flyers yet to be posted/handed out.
"Please, have you seen some of those wealthy elite types? There's enough workers to still produce that kind of material because it's still in demand. So I just asked my sister." Ruth responds, with a proud smirk on her face.
At some point, Nimue notices a familiar group of Tokyo D.C.E squad members looking their way and… Is that a mecha hound unit?!? She thought those older models were discontinued or something but it seems that group somehow has one. Nimue wondered how soft that synthetic fur must feel… No, no get back on task!
While Nimue was lost in thought again, one of her friends makes a loud enough noise to startle her.
"OMG, did you hear there's a abandoned toy factory close to where we have to travel to the next district we have to cross after here?" Norma half shouts again in her excitement.
"Well, it's a good thing we have that hover transport so we can actually carry all this stuff instead of having to haul it ourselves." Cleo states softly.
"Yeah, imagine how annoying it would be to have to haul all the stuff we've scavenged ourselves when we barely have the manpower, much less the cash to pay for hired help right now." Cathy states before Ruth cuts in with a
"So we investigating that place once we're done here or what? I think once Becka and her boyfriend meet back up with us, we won't have any other reason to stay here. Plus it's getting kinda depressing seeing all these orphans and jerks who are a buncha killjoys.” She mutters that last part almost as an aside.
Maiko sighs before responding with:
"We'll investigate that lead before heading out, Nimue please don't fall behind like last time."
"Yes ma'am…"
And the group sets off to meet back up with their missing companions.
*Cut to when the school club has to cross the forest in order to reach their new home in Talys*
"Hey Nimue, don't forget that we're doing a pair up system when traveling through areas like this forest so we don't lose anyone." Maiko reminds her friend, who she's noticed has been more lost in thought recently.
"Oh!" Nimue responds, having been distracted and now noticing that Maiko has been talking to her for the past few minutes.
“Yeah, I understand. Don't worry about me, you should be focusing more on those newbies."
"Are you sure? You've been more distracted than normal and we've been worried about you."
"Nah, it's all good, I promise."
While Nimue is trying to reassure her old friend, she also has plans. As much fun as this club thing is and how nice it is to have an easy way to bond and hang with her friends even in this hellhole they have to call life right now (perks of most of them being orphans, homeless or social rejects with not many options left), Nimue has new plans now which sadly means this is where they part ways.
It's not like she enjoys the idea of lying to her friends or having to leave but if she's going to have a chance at her own happily ever after, she has to act now! After watching her beloved from afar and picking up on common themes, leaving now while the school club is traveling through this thick forest is her only shot even if she regrets that this means she might never see them again.
Nimue has been preparing for awhile, she even had to abandon her custom uniform with only a spare button for a memento. Luckily, she found some contacts to make it easier to find those willing to assist her and she has enough funds to get her from here to the next stage of the plan.
As she waits for most of her friends to set off first so she can get in the middle group, she takes one final glance at her beloved some ways away watching her group prepare to trek these foreboding woods.
*back to present*
As Nimue makes one last adjustment to her bridal outfit (she is to be married after all), she's finally brought out of her reminiscing by one of her hired hands telling her terrible news. Intruders? On her wedding day?!?
How dare these so called 'friends' of Byrn crash her wonderful day! They didn't even notice her beloved was missing (she's grateful that crowd made it easy to get Byrn away), why go through the effort to pretend to care now?
Well, some things can't be helped. History has always had those in love have struggles before their happily after, so she supposes that this is just the Goddess testing her resolve.
With that in mind, Nimue readies her weapon against the wedding crashers.