Early Wednesday morning. April 30, 2025...
And the day after a long night opening vintage CapsuMon cards, eating snacks, and chatting.
Meggie was already up, so she went ahead and slid open the curtains to the window, revealing the morning skyline.
Hope immediately hissed, burying her face inside the blanket as she huddled under the futon in the middle of the apartment.
Juliet groaned and said, "Did ya hafta open the curtains...?"
As for Erie...
She got up like a zombie and instinctively walked towards the kitchen, expertly making a pot of coffee without even being fully awake.
Meggie laughed and said, "Wow. You guys are totally not morning people, huh?"
Hope quickly grabbed some pillows nearby to build up a fortress of darkness before grumbling, "Too early... stooop. Sun, go awaaaay."
Juliet tried to roll over and sleep. But after a few more tries tossing and turning, she gave up and scrambled to her feet. "Ugh... jet lag is hitting hard..."
Meggie laughed again and said, "I bet. You mere mortals have to suffer under physiological detriments."
Hope groaned and said, "Too early for big words! Stahp."
Meggie snorted and said, "It's payback for ripping through a godpack last night."
Juliet visibly cringed, the painful memory shocking her awake. "...Oh god. I remember now. I thought it was a nightmare..." Her olive green eyes flitted to the coffee table where they had been opening cards, only to see the ripped pile of vintage holographic cards. Then she winced, a few tears welling up in her eyes.
Meanwhile, Erie poured herself a cup of coffee. After a few sips, she finally looked awake and said, "It's just cardboard. I mean, expensive cardboard. But it's not that bad, Julie."
"...You don't get it." Juliet sighed.
Meggie sighed too. "Non-collectors won't understand..."
"Right?" Juliet nodded solemnly. "A work of art being tarnished like that..."
Erie snorted. "Considering what passes for art these days, I think the value of those cardboards went up, didn't they?"
Juliet looked like she wanted to protest. But after thinking about it, she decided to not say anything.
Meggie stretched and then pulled out her phone. After checking the time, she said, "Looks like it just turned 6. I've got school at 8, but since it's near here, I can stick around a bit more. Onee-chan's got some of my spare uniforms though, so I'm going to head over there for a bit to change."
Juliet cringed again. "Are you sure it's safe?"
Meggie blinked. "...What do you mean?"
Hope wriggled out from her fortress of darkness and said, "Alphy eats cereal with water! Blended! With bread!"
Meggie tilted her head. "And? That's just efficient, isn't it?"
Juliet gagged.
Erie's eyes widened, stunned wide awake.
And Hope immediately retreated to her fortress of darkness. "Noooooooo. All of Mister John's daughters are weirrrrrd!"
"...Oookay." Meggie slowly nodded. "...I'll be back then." After that, she left the apartment, letting the door click shut behind her.
Juliet staggered her way to the kitchen, clutching her heart as if physically harmed by the revelations. "My poor heart..."
Erie handed her a cup of coffee and said, "Here. Drink up, wake up, and make us food like you promised."
Juliet sipped the coffee, but then her eyes lit up. "That's right. I can cook to forget about this."
Hope let out a small cheer, still huddled in her fortress of darkness. "Yay! Julie's cooking!"
Erie looked over and said, "Are you really going to stay in there like that, Hope?"
"I'm tired! And sleepy! And my eyes hurt, so yes!"
"...Wait. Eyes hurt..." Erie blinked. "...Hope. Do you have albinism?"
Hope wriggled her head out from the fortress of darkness and winced at the light. Then she looked at Erie and said, "What's that?"
Juliet paused and looked at Hope. "...Huh. Right. If you have white hair, maybe it's a mutation of that? Do you burn easy in the sun, Hope?"
Hope nodded. "Yes! I use lots of sunscreen! It hurts if I don't!"
"...Pft." Erie shook her head. "Oh my god. Weak to the sun... Hope's like a real world vampire."
Juliet looked amused too and said, "Or a real ghost."
Hope puffed her cheeks and said, "You two are bullies! It's not my fault the sun hurts me!"
Erie laughed and said, "Hope is definitely midwest white. Or maybe 'hwite?'"
Juliet chuckled as she started rummaging through the cupboards for ingredients. "Oh yeah. Not a trace of Italian or anything like that in her, otherwise she'd get tan, not burned."
Hope huffed and wrapped her blanket over her head as a makeshift hood to hide in the shade. "Well excuse me for not being born with super genes!"
Erie gave a thumbs up. "Asian superiority. Well, half at least."
Juliet made an 'ok' sign with her right hand and said, "Italian heritage for the win."
"...I'm going to get you both cancelled. First chance we get. Watch me." Hope grumbled and slid back inside her fortress of darkness.
Erie laughed and said, "Good luck with that. I've been hard cancelled once already. I lost that fear a looong time ago."
Juliet finished pulling out some flour and eggs then started washing her hand. As she did, she said, "Don't threaten me with a good time, Hope~ There's no such thing as bad publicity in the music field, you know?"
Erie paused and looked at Juliet. "...Are you sure you're het?"
"What?" Juliet started mixing the flour and eggs to make the dough for some cornettos. "Can't a girl be flirty for fun?"
"...I hate you."
"Liar~"
Hope squirmed beneath her bundle of blankets and pillows, no doubt trying to will herself back to sleep.
For a while, the sounds of pots and pans echoed as Juliet started on making cream to fill the cornettos.
Erie sat at the table, sipping on her coffee as she watched Juliet cooked. But then she said, "Oh yeah. We should probably brainstorm ideas for our personas, shouldn't we?"
Juliet started kneading the dough and said, "I'm going to be a runaway heiress. Probably Cinderella or something."
Erie gave Juliet a blank stare. "...Is that a reference to Romeo and Cinderella? That vocaloid song?"
"...Maybe?" Juliet shrugged. "I've always liked Cinderella more anyway. She worked hard and got her wish granted. Juliet just dies."
"...Okay, dark. Even for me." Erie shook her head. "...What about you, Hope?"
Silence. And then the sound of soft breathing echoed.
"...Aaand she's back asleep." Erie blinked. "Wow. Is she that tired?"
Juliet smiled as she started wrapping the dough into cornettos, leaving some nutella in the middle of them. "Well, Hope usually sleeps early, doesn't she? We stayed up late into the night."
"...Oh yeah. Huh. I forget that not everyone's a night owl... Wait." Erie looked at Juliet and said, "How are you wide awake?"
"Discipline. And sheer terror at remembering the damaged god pack..."
"...Right. That. Well, whatever gets you up, I guess..." Erie hummed. "What's your usual sleeping schedule then? You know, since we're all probably going to be living together."
"I just take naps throughout the day. I don't really like sleeping for a long period of time." Juliet placed the cornettos into the oven and said, "I think it's a habit from when I was a kid."
"Huh? Why would that be- Oh right. Crime boss kid." Erie paused. Then she said, "...You wouldn't happen to have an Uncle Vinny, would you?"
"I used to. He died in my arms..."
"..."
"I'm joking."
"Okay, good. Because I didn't know what the hell to say to that, Julie."
Juliet laughed and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee. Then she sat next to Erie and said, "It wasn't that different growing up. We had money, and my parents kept me away from that side of things. My habit of not sleeping much is because my parents usually argued at night."
"...Are you doing this just to see my reaction, or are you normally like this, Julie? Because what the hell?" Erie gave Juliet a blank stare.
Juliet sipped her coffee and said, "If you can casually make jokes and references to your almost dying, I can drop random lore about my mommy and daddy issues too."
"...I canNOT believe you said that with a straight face. Or cringing."
Juliet smiled and said, "The person who cringes loses. And if you can be shameless, you always win. That's what I learned growing up with those toxic rich girls."
"...Okay, yeah. I get why Hana's your oshi now." Erie sipped on her coffee.
Juliet glanced over at the oven to check on the cornettos before looking back at Erie. "You never said what you wanted your streaming persona to be though, Erie. Are you just going to bring back Meryl Kodomo?"
"...No. As much as I feel bad for my fans, that person's dead and buried." Erie pursed her lips and said, "That black company killed everything related to her and burned it to the ground. Even if Mister John and Titor did some black wizard sorcery to pull everything back, it would be like wearing a corpse, you know?"
Juliet paused. "...I kind of get that. It's not you anymore, right?"
Erie sighed. "Yeah. Meryl was a bright-eyed hopeful young girl. I'm definitely not anymore." She sipped on her coffee and said, "Which is why I'm going to be a cultist who resurrects her dead corpse to use as a chibi ghost prop in every one of my streams."
Juliet coughed, caught mid-sip when Erie spoke. "What?!"
Erie smiled.