A feverish rush of energy and giddy excitement.
The overarching concept was simple, and it matched their group name too: Protest.
Hope, Erie, and Juliet would each be a 'villainess' type character who was once the heroine in a story.
Juliet would go first, since she would set up all the lore. The prince's fiancee who loved him dearly and even dolled up for his coming of age ball, only to be poisoned and framed as a villainess by the evil commoner trying to seize Juliet's place at the prince's side.
Erie would go second, being the one responsible for reviving Juliet for revenge. As for her backstory... she would be devout priestess to the church, only to find out that the 'holy maidens' and 'saintesses' that the church venerated were sacrificed against their will. And just as she was about to be killed, she prayed out to anyone but the god she worshipped, and someone answered.
Hope would go last, and the one responsible for everything. A once naive goddess of Hope who gave everything to a hero, she was betrayed and cut down, told to stay as just a memory. Cast into another world, she answered Erie's prayers, rekindled her divinity as a Goddess of Rap and Beauty... and then they would all band together.
Of course, the full details were still in the air.
None of the girls were sure about what to use as their avatar names just yet, and they also wanted to make sure that the lore was perfect.
So, to make sure it was, they went to go get the help of a professional to tie up all the loose ends.
As for who that professional was...
===
Lore adjusted his glasses and looked amused. Leaning back in his chair, he looked at Hope, Erie, and Juliet before saying, "You girls want me to help you build your lore?"
Hope nodded, smiling. "Yes! Since you're amazing at making lore... and since you'll have to do it anyway, we thought it'd help to just come to you first!"
Lore's eyes teared up and he said, "So considerate..."
Mira-chan's voice echoed over the speakers and she said, "It's amazing, Lore! Finally, you don't have to stitch together things that don't make sense!"
Erie looked at Lore and said, "Wow. It's been that bad, huh?"
Lore wiped his eyes and said, "You have no idea... The number of retcons that I've had to make..." He pointed to the shelf of binders on his wall. "Each of those is a redo. And each of those is because one of the girls... mostly Hana, says something that doesn't make sense."
Juliet let out a solemn nod. "Hana-chan is the strongest imouto for a reason. She's always changing and evolving..."
Erie gave Juliet a blank look and said, "You really just change characters when it comes to Hana, don't you, Julie?"
"Hana-chan is the best. I will die on this hill." Juliet gave another solemn nod.
"...Fans and their oshis, I swear..." Erie laughed.
Lore got up and started pulling out folding chairs for each of the girls in his office. After that, he grabbed a whiteboard eraser and cleared his whiteboard before grabbing a blue marker, a red marker, and a green marker. "Okay. We'll be here for a while, but it'll be worth it. A strong first impression makes things easier. You don't want to be like Prodigy and end up splitting into your own things."
Juliet sat down on her chair and nodded. "Yeah." She looked at Hope and Erie and said, "We want to be a proper idol group. Right?"
Erie nodded. "Yeah. I'm pretty done with doing things by myself..."
Hope nodded too and said, "It's better if we all work together. Like a magical girl group!"
Lore hummed. "I don't know about magical girls... but I think we can make things work. Mira-chan, the music."
"Hai~"
Hope blinked. "Music? What music-?"
[Play: Perfect Maid - It's SHOWTIME]
An upbeat and cheerful song that sounded right out of a rhythm game started blaring over the speakers. A growling bassline, voice ad-libs chopped up and remixed, and then cheers and claps mixed in the background as well.
Hope gasped. "I LOVE THIS BEAT. I wanna rap! Right now!"
Erie laughed and said, "You can do that later, Hope. We should get our lore straight first so that we can start getting ready for the debut. Then you can rap live."
Hope's eyes widened and she said, "You're absolutely right! Lore! Kick it!"
Juliet smiled, amusement clear on her face, and said, "I think you mean 'hit it,' Hope... But yes. Let's get started. So." She clapped her hands and said, "...Clearly, I'm dying first to foreshadow things. Should we do a dramatic voice over intro?"
Lore's eyes sparkled and he scribbled that on the whiteboard in green. "Yes. We'll open with a dramatic pan into the prince and the ball... everyone's faceless of course. Have to make them NPCs... and then we can do a cut in like webtoon panels of you making your way fully dolled up."
Erie snapped her fingers and said, "And then BAM! Just as Julie's other self shares a drink with the prince and the commoner gal, everyone starts choking. They think she's trying to assassinate the prince and the commoner gal, so they bury her reputation after she's dead, making her a resentful spirit!"
Lore pointed at Erie and said, "You. I knew I liked you." He quickly scribbled the addition on the board and said, "And after that..." He swapped to a red marker using the same hand and continued writing. "Your character digs up her corpse in your debut, along with Meryl Kodomo. You revive both, but Meryl's soulless for reasons... and that's the end of Juliet's debut."
Juliet's olive green eyes sparkled and she said, "Ooh, ending with a stinger. Just like the superhero movies."
Hope gasped and said, "Then we're going to end Erie's debut right where she left off in Julie's stream, right?"
Erie laughed and said, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Hope. Let the loremaster work."
Lore adjusted his glasses, looking smug. "That's correct, Hope... but step by step. You see, we can do this." He started writing on the board in blue. "We'll drop pieces of divine imagery across Juliet's and Erie's streams. Your insignia, of course. And we might even have you in the background since your character will stand out, but with the face blurred."
Erie's emerald eyes lit up. "Ooh... right. Because Hope's our leader... and our goddess. Let the hype build up and people theorycraft."
Lore pointed at Erie. "Exactly. And we can even drop hints about Meryl Kodomo in Juliet's trailer too, but won't show her in full until yours. So then when you show your character..."
"...The internet will break!" Erie laughed. "Oh my god, I knew it was a good idea to come ask you."
Lore adjusted his glasses and said, "Justice Cake."
Juliet snorted and then covered her mouth, blushing with embarrassment.
Hope giggled and said, "That's punny!"
Erie groaned. "Right. Full weeb."
Lore raised an eyebrow and said, "I resent that statement. I am an otaku, not a weeb. Do you see a fedora or a kimono on me? Or any sign that I am, quote, 'hwite'?"
Erie laughed. "Fine, fine. Don't banter semantics with the smart guy behind all the lore. My bad..."
Hope smiled and said, "Okay, Lore! So then, what about me?"
"Well..." Lore idly spun all three markers in his right hand. Then he said, "Since you're the goddess and the leader, you'll go last. But we'll need to set up the betrayal and tie it all together... How about the prince being the reincarnation of the hero who betrayed you?"
Juliet's olive green eyes flashed and she grinned. "Are we gonna do a murder?"
Erie's emerald eyes flashed too and she said, "Oh, we're gonna do a murder."
Hope's sky blue eyes sparkled and she said, "Can we make it a musical number?!"
Juliet gasped. "HOPE! That's amazing!"
Erie burst out laughing and said, "Oh my god YES. We can even have Meryl Kodomo dragged around as a prop in the background during the bit."
Lore snapped his fingers and pointed at the girls. "Done. I'll get right on it. And by get right on it, I mean I'll grab Rhea, because she would kill me to not get a chance to flex her skills at drawing villainess scenes and artwork. This is literally right up her alley."
Hope smiled and clasped her hands together. "That's perfect! Then me and Julie can make the music too!"
Erie jumped up and said, "I call dibs on being the dramatic narration voice over!"
Lore nodded. "As long as you don't call yourself Elizabeth or start ranting about blood flames, that's fine. Otherwise you'll be stealing someone's entire vibe."
Erie blinked. "Huh? Blood flames?" She rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm not a vampire or demon lord."
Juliet stared at the growing web of lore on the whiteboard and said, "So... it's just names left then, right?"
Lore nodded. "That's right. It's the biggest part. You'll be going by the name for a while... so don't be like your senpair Rhea who cringes everytime she hears DaVinki."
Hope giggled. "It's cute though!"
"I agree. But Rhea is not cute. Pretty, yes. Beautiful, also yes. Cute? You have a better chance of surviving against Hana in a dark alleyway than calling Rhea cute."
Juliet tilted her head. "...But Hana wouldn't do anything wrong?"
"...Sheeple."
"???"
Lore adjusted his glasses and said, "In any case... do you have ideas? Or should I brainstorm names for you too?"
Erie spoke up and said, "I already know my name."
Hope looked over and said, "You do, Erie?"
"Yep. I'm Niko Manser." Erie crossed her arms, looking smug.
Juliet tilted her head, confused. And then her eyes widened. "Oh my GOD the LAYERS in that name."
Hope blinked. "...Layers?"
Lore's eyes widened in surprise and he laughed. "I see! Niko like 'Second Child' because of Meryl 'Kodomo.' And manser is a historic legal term for a child out of wedlock, which is what you are since you're VTubing again despite the mess with that black company. But since Niko also means victory, it's a win despite being out of their grasp. And then it's a pun on Necromancer too... I approve." He put two thumbs up and said, "300 IQ move."
"Right~" Erie smiled. "I thought a lot about it." She looked at Hope and Juliet and said, "Can't let these two show me up on the wordplay."
Juliet held up her hands, smiling. "I have to admit, you've got me beat here, Erie. I'm just going to be Lady Zen of House D'rion."
Erie blinked and then said, "You're literally going with Cinderella?"
"Yep." Juliet nodded. "Might as well stick to the classics... You, Hope?"
Hope blinked. "Me? Hm..." She thought about it. "Well... Why not just Arenbi?"
Erie tilted her head. "Arenbi? What kind of name is...?" She trailed off, sounding it out again. Then her eyes widened as she got it.
Juliet laughed. "Really? Arenbi?"
"Yeah! Like, R and B!" Hope giggled. "I wanna see how long it takes for people to figure it out!"
Erie groaned. "Puns... puns everywhere... But." She grinned. "Everyone gets to suffer together~"
Lore adjusted his glasses, smiling. "...Perfect. I'll make a note to record as many reactions as possible. We can make a collage on your first collab stream."
Hope giggled. "You're the best, Lore!"
"Thank you, thank you. Now... get out. I have work to do." After saying those words, Lore pressed a button.
The floor immediately dropped from beneath Hope, Erie, and Juliet.
But before they could even react, they were whisked back into the lobby, popping out in the main entrance.
Erie was the first to recover. Then her eyes sparkled and she said, "...Oh, I'm SO hiring him to design the rides in my pizzeria."
[author] We now return to our usual scheduled programming. (^_^)[/author]