Storyline Name: Royal Trouble
Creator(s): Sailor Neptune & Eternal Knight
Forum: Tokyo City
Advanced or Relaxed: Relaxed
Plot Summary: Somewhere in their really long lives, Titania and Oberon had one of their rare moments where they were actually mad at each other. They didn't even remember the cause of the fight anymore, only that they hadn't been speaking in a while. This was affecting their mental link - weakening it and making it harder to communicate. They could no longer talk over long distances and could only feel the emotions of each other. They also could no longer tell where the other is.

Feeling restless, Titania decided to come to Earth, even if she realistically knew she could not just simply find her husband in a planet full of people. She ended up in an anime convention in town, where apparently there was an anime inspired by the myth of fairies being showcased. She took one look at the fairy queen character and decided she would show what a true fairy queen looked like, and impulsively decided to attend as a "cosplayer" - a term she literally just learned five minutes ago - of that character. Using her glamour, she allowed herself to look almost exactly like the character - but better, of course. Little did she know that Oberon was also attending this same convention, and that their little fight was going to turn into one epic mix-up that they would never speak of again in all their lives.

Details on any necessary information: Takes place in the 20th century in Tokyo City, before Oberon became a senshi.

Restrictions: Only for the listed characters below.
OOC Thread: Discord
Member to Character List:
Titania - Sailor Neptune
Oberon - Eternal Knight

She had started giving him hints months ago, talking non-stop about how excited she was for an upcoming event in town and how she was slowly but surely preparing for it. He didn't ask much about it, figured she would share by herself when she wanted. Oberon was a good friend, but he was also a bad one sometimes. Not because he wanted to, but because in centuries of life on Earth, he hadn't completely adapted to how open humans had become. They already were more opened than he was before all the progress was made... Maybe it should have been a wake-up call, but he was who he was and Vivien became his friend despite it all, so why change?

He wasn't even sure he could change.

- I swear, it'll be fun!
Vivien's strong accent only got worse as the excitement rose and Oberon wished he had it in him to sigh.
"Alright."
He had said.
Because he rarely said no to her, or friends in general. Whether he liked the activities he was signing up for or not didn't matter.

What had he agreed to?
To accompany her to that event she wouldn't stop talking about. Really subtle hints she began with until she outright begged him. She didn't want to be alone, her friends who loved this kind of stuff had ditched her...
How in the ever hell of things could he even say no to that?
Or to those puppy eyes for that matter.

Humans were strange creatures.

Fragile and short-lived.

He trusted Vivien to find him a costume, life went on without too much trouble and soon enough the convention was the week after. At that point, Oberon had to admit he needed a distraction. Things were tensed - it had been for a while - with Titania, but that much of a scramble in their connection was new. He wasn't in the mood to reach out, however. He had done enough of that for the next decades...

So when Vivien came to him so he would try on the costume she made for him, he was almost as eager as she was.

Up until the costume.

He got the joke. Really, he did.
And he would have found it funny, but with his real wife really sulking and himself not anywhere more mature, it was almost as if the universe was laughing at him.

- You don't like it?

The hesitation in Vivien's voice reminded him of how humans were fragile sometimes or so easily thrown off by aloof behavior. He smiled, however, warmly.

"I do, I apologize."

Enough for her to smile again.
Bless her heart.

He felt weird without Titania in his head, but having a friend made it not as lonely as he used to be.

He assured Vivien the costume was grandiose, suggested her some new improvements if she wished to work more on it, then told her he would work himself on the wings and ears, that he knew what to do for them. She grinned and left later on that day, still excited for the convention. Herself was going to the convention as a fairy type character, but not one from the same story as his own costume.

He wondered what she would say if he told her he was the inspiration for most of that story.

Time was a funny thing.

When convention day rang, they were sharing a hotel room - two beds - and getting ready, Vivien in the bathroom, himself in the main room. He simply let his wings out, cast an illusion on them to match a bit more the idea of fairy wings as humans understood it, then was forced to also cast an illusion on his ears that had decreased in lenght since his arrival on Earth.

Slowly assimilated.
There was irony in that as well.

He almost smiled proudly when Vivien exclaimed herself at the wings but held it back in the nick of time before complimenting her on both the costumes she had made for them.

They left the room, Vivien's sheer joy almost enough to distract him from his own thoughts but since he had had eons to master the skill of self-loathing to the level it was today, his thoughts... were hard to be distracted from.

Humans were such strange creatures.

This was Titania’s conclusion when she stood in front of the building where something called an ‘anime convention’ was being held. She stared at the poster showcasing all the anime that were going to be highlighted, and twitched when she saw the figure of the so-called ‘fairy queen’. Those wings were inaccurate. They were colorful but tacky, and way too big to move comfortably with. How did she not end up whacking everyone in the face every time she moved? And that outfit. What a ridiculous overdramatic dress, and this was coming from a self-titled drama queen.

All those colors clashing in a way that made her eyes hurt. The way the dress managed to look like an over the top wedding gown and a skimpy dress at the same time. Was this really how humans thought fairies look like?

Upon looking around, she saw that a lot of the attendees were also in various costumes, some resembling the characters on the pictures. There were one or two dressed as this fake fairy queen as well.

Titania went into one of the bathrooms and decided she would show them what a true fairy queen looked like. Utilizing her powers, she changed her outfit so that it resembled one of her royal dresses. The shape was like the character’s dress, except with tweaks that made it look more elegant and classy. All the colors were there, but instead of solid ones that clashed with each other, she made them sheer—almost transparent—and gradient-like, blending into each other with every movement she made. The result was akin to wearing an ever-moving rainbow. She covered up the parts that were too skimpy and turned down the poofiness and frills, making it look slender yet still dramatic.

For the wings, she simply used her own. It was clearly the best option. She changed her eye and hair color to resemble the character’s, but again made improvements according to her own taste. When she admired herself in the mirror, she felt satisfied. She looked like an upgraded version of the character, the character that should have been had the creator had decent taste.

With this new look, she strolled into the convention, glamouring a piece of paper into a ticket to get her past, and stepped past the doors easily.

Once she was inside and surrounded by all these funny creatures who seemed obsessed with their own fictional stories, Titania grinned. This was a genius idea.

For the first time since her fight with Oberon, she was going to have some fun.

- Oh. My. God.

Oberon almost collided with Vivien when his friend abruptly stopped walking, the fay's eyes busy with whatever was around them. This was a strange convention. Strange people. There was so many people there, most of them costumed like them and it was an interesting sight. Theater was a wonderful thing, one they had been able to assimilate to their own species and Oberon had come to love the idea of dressing up. He was too old for that, felt too old for the costume he now wore, but it was a positive outlet for creativity.

To Vivien's reaction now.

His eyes followed her and he understood.

A cosplay of the fairy queen that was one of the honored story during the weekend and he knew why Vivien had reacted so much. It was beautiful. He had seen some character's pictures, after all, Vivien had her ways more often than not, but this... this was different.

This was elegant where the character was near ludicrous.
This was... incredibly charming.

- I'm so jealous now...

Vivien contrite tone was amusing, but having trouble taking his eyes off the fairy cosplayer was not. It made him uncomfortable, but she was... was it the wings, or the eyes or the overall attitude? He didn't know, but it stirred something.

- You HAVE to take a picture with her.
He resisted her pull.
"Not right away, she just came in, let us give her some space before asking, alright?"

Emotions made a coward out of him, but maybe they could just leave for another side of the convention without being spotted.

Someone was staring at her.

Of course, Titania was used to being stared at, almost 99% of her time in her very long life. She was very aware of her ethereal beauty, especially when among the puny mortals. She relished it and enjoyed it always. But as she turned to look at the pair who looked at her unabashedly, practically with their jaws hanging open, she zeroed in on the man, who was dressed somewhat like the fairy king character that was supposed to be her character’s lover. He’d made some improvements on it too, it seemed, and for that Titania respected him. After all, the actual character designs were beyond ridiculous.

There was something in his eyes that unsettled her, too, and made her curious. She suddenly needed to know all about him. A careless gaze was thrown at his female companion. Surely this couldn’t be his girlfriend?

She generously threw them a friendly smile, but did not say anything yet. It was both an invitation and a challenge; to see if they dared to approach her like they were obviously dying to.

- Too late to run, she saw us.

Dread. He was not entirely what humans called antisocial. He had diplomatic skills; being the King of his own planet and forced more than once to meddle with humans since he first landed on Earth, but it had been... oh so many many thousands of years since he felt... well, that.

He knew more than he felt when Vivien pulled his hand with a bright smile shining on her lips and the eagerness of someone passionate. Vivien always forced him to keep up and the dullness that had slowly invaded his personality often had to receide and fade to the back of his mind when she was there. She was not nearly as passionate and fierce as Titania, but she was a friend that rarely allowed him to chicken out of anything.

Meeting a cosplayer apparently counting in her evil plans of not leaving him alone.

"I doubt..."
- None of that, you can charm the pants off anything, I'm sure one 'hello' isn't going to actually kill you. Man up a bit!

Where some could become offended, he was rather amused.
And he was way past being upset at her wording of things.

She gave a smile of her own to the fairy queen cosplayer and Oberon had the weird thought that dressed like this, Vivien looked like one of their youth. With colored clothes, smaller wings, eyes that didn't show yet how heavily immortality could weight on someone eternal. Titania and him never had any children and clearly he was digressing...

He missed her but also was annoyed at her at the same time. Thinking of children certainly wasn't the way to go about it.
And what to say of this young lady smiling friendly toward them yet standing there and waiting?
Was it arrogance or shyness?

- I'm sorry if we stared, your costume is just awesome! Have you done it yourself?

Vivien's excited accent brought him back to the present and he smiled back pleasantly. He wondered if this was a seasoned cosplayer or someone new to this overwhelming world as much as he was? She seemed talented if she was the creator of the dress she wore and confident in the way she carried herself. He was confident himself... usually, most of the time.

He had no idea why he was so damn nervous right now.

These were humans for Cosmos' sake! Not his wife. Or his planet. And those were literally the only two people that could make him nervous.

The girl was smiling at her, but Titania just wanted to pet her head and tell her she was adorable. Most humans were like puppies to her; cute innocent little things that were completely oblivious about the reality of the world. Most of them didn’t even know magic existed, let alone possessed some. It was sad, really. The Earth was probably the most boring planet she had ever stepped foot on, which was why she never understood Oberon’s obsession with it.

Annoyance flared within her as she thought about him and their epic fight. After millennia upon millennia together, how could he still not have learned that she was always right?

Whenever she was mad at him, that usually drove her desire to flirt with other people and had driven her into the arms of other men and women in the past (she doesn’t discriminate when it comes to her affections). And now her gaze flicked toward the man once again, considering. He was pretty cute. Her type, definitely, it was odd actually how he fit her preferences exactly in the broader ways.

As they finally approached her, Titania looked at the girl, who spoke first.

“Why, thank you for the compliments. Yes, I did make it myself. I also thought I’d put my own… spin to it. To be quite honest with you, I’m new to this whole… cosplaying thing myself, but I’ve found it really fun so far. What about you both?”

She looked at the woman, then glanced once again at the man, who so far hadn’t spoken at all.

She really hoped he wasn’t too shy, because that would take too much work.

"It is not her first time, but it surely is mine." He answered finally with a certain calm. He usually let Vivien deal with people. It wasn't that he was shy, but it was mostly that he didn't always find worthiness in small talk.

He loved a small exchange of words about everything and nothing, it would happen on his planet as well, but Oberians' level of small talk was way beyond what usually happened on Earth. And yet, he found this species utterly fascinating. Not that positivity was the reason he had stayed on this small planet for so long. He didn't exactly know why. He knew what had created the guilt that never left him alone, but to say it was the one and only reason he stayed wasn't true.

He just couldn't word it, even in his own mind.
Like a strange pull that always made him gravitate back to Earth.

"She is the one who made those costumes, however. She is talented." He could feel Vivien beaming without seeing her. "I worked on the wings and helped for some minor details. The original designs were a bit... ridicule for my taste?"

- It's true I kinda like those better, I'm not at your level though, but I do intend to learn more.

He wondered if Titania would see her as adorable or annoying were they to meet. He found her rather cute, but his wife wasn't known for her appreciation towards primitive culture. Maybe a cute little pet, then?

Exasperation washed over him in small but annoying waves.

- I'm Vivianne and this is Arthur.

She announced with vitality as he bowed his head politely as he was introduced. He wondered why she had named herself Vivianne, but at the same time, they were in Paris and it was the french version of her real name, so maybe she was just playing along.

"How are you liking the experience so far?"

“Ah, so we’re both newbies then,” she smiled at the man, latching on the thing they had in common.

She glanced back at the woman as he redirected the attention to her. Titania was usually good at reading relationships between people, and as sweet as these two looked, they didn’t seem romantically involved.

“Yes! Ridiculous,” she replied, seizing another chance to agree with him, and thanking the gods for his taste. She could never sleep with someone so tacky. Not that she was already planning to sleep with him or anything. “That is precisely why I chose to turn it into my own design. I don’t know what those creators were thinking.”

As the woman introduced themselves, Titania paused, surprised.

Viviane and Arthur?

Her memory flashed back to her time in Camelot, when she was Morgan le Fay. When she slept with the king. Then not-so-indirectly got him killed. She also remembered a certain king in Atlantis, whose wife was her best friend. Even if she resided in his body, kind of.

It was certainly a name that evoked many things in her.

Well, if that’s how you want to play it… I’d better complete the cast, right?

“You can call me Morgaine,” she said with a smile, opting for the French version of her old name, staring straight at the man—Arthur.

She did like playing with irony.

“I think this is really interesting. I guess it’s true what people say; stories inspire and affect us more than we care to admit. Shall we enjoy the convention together? It seems we might like each other’s company. Plus I do not have a friend here and came here alone. I would feel more... entertained with some companions.”

"And yet you seem more at ease than I feel."

He smiled with humor underlying the comment.

As if she belonged under the spotlight, her aura fitting perfectly the attention this dress - and her chams - would attract. A pang of discomfort rang through his spine, something he refused to acknowledge as mild jealousy. He didn't know her, he never saw her in all his exhaustingly long life and there was no such thing as attraction at first sight.

His whole relationship was built on long years of compromise, acceptance. A friendship born from hardship and love born from everything that bound them together. He ended up putting the blame on the healthy envy he could feel coming from Vivien at their new acquaintance's talent for costume making.

- They probably weren't, offered Vivien warmly.

Oberon's smile, that had been fading from too much thinking, stirred again and tugged at the corners of his lips.

"They... misfired, let us speak of it this way. Their efforts should still be recognized, however fruitless it ended up being."

His eyes caught hers right away.

"Morgaine..." He repeated gently. "Somehow this meeting seems more of a fairy tale than the characters we embodie." He pointed out with a lone eyebrow raised. "Somehow I expect Merlin to come forward."

He hated how irony had a knack of backfiring on him every so often.

"I admit curiosity was the only reason I came. With Vivien being the obvious one." He added when the girl pouted at him. Fortunately she knew he wasn't the best at socializing and wasn't really offended. After all, it was obvious that he came with her or he wouldn't have stick with her all this time.

- Pffft, was her answer to Oberon before she looked at the other girl. But sure! I know what it is to come here alone, so you're not going to suffer through that.

Plus, Oberon seemed to like her, but Vivien probably wasn't aware he could hear that.

Why was whining in defeat beneath him? He could use some emotional response right now. He gestured toward the alley.

"Shall we then? Let us see what all of this means. I hear there are as many activities as they are famous people gathering and conferencing. I know Vivien wanted to see some of them."
- Yeah, but I won't force you two to come to every and each one of them. So if there's something you're not interested in we'll just split up and meet again later, alright?

She beamed again.

Bless her heart.

“The trick is to fake it until you make it, as these hu—people say,” she said with a wink, almost slipping the word ‘human’ out accidentally. They were sometimes right about many things, though Titania very rarely had to fake anything in her life. After all, she had confidence in abundance because she knew just how awesome she was.

She didn’t agree with his conclusion that the creators’ effort should still be ‘recognized’—she didn’t believe in recognizing talentless people or effort for effort’s sake—but the way this man—Arthur—thought certainly reminded her of someone. Of her very optimistic and sometimes way too nice husband. It was that kind of attitude that got him tied up with these humans in the first place…

Titania had no patience for them and their stupidity.

She smiled as he spoke of Merlin, her lips curving upward ever so slightly. “Indeed…” was all the enigmatic reply she offered.

She moved closer to the two as they agreed to explore the convention together, and found an opportunity in Vivianne’s offer to split up. Perhaps she could convince Arthur to… slip away somewhere with her, without his lady friend.

But first she needed to know more.

“So… are you two a couple, by any chance?” she asked casually, trying to find out how much heartbreak would be involved once she managed to sink her claws in Arthur.

Because it certainly didn’t matter to her if they were together.