Chapter Text
Vedal awoke in the evening, the sun was setting just as she opened her tired eyes—anticipating the moonlight shining through her window.
Only to find sunlight of a deep orange hue through the translucent curtain that she closed before she slept. The usually grey fabric turned orange with the circumstances, making her focus on it unusually hard. Until she realized how weird she was being—staring at a curtain for seemingly no reason at all.
Vedal sighed at her unique actions, feeling a tinge of embarrassment within. She tried to change the focus of her mind to another important thought, ‘Code... or something that can occupy me for a while before I go to sleep later.’ She leaned on her left while laying down, making gestures to explain to herself what she would need to do later on. ‘I told Camila 10 A.M.—in her timezone, and that would be...’ Vedal calculated when that would be in her own timezone, ‘6 P.M. for me.’
She finished her internal organization of thoughts, ending Vedal's series of talking to herself in her head. Vedal sat up, finding herself staring at the wardrobe. She could see a sliver of a purple coloured piece of paper hanging by the door.
‘Purple...’
Vedal: [...Wait.]
‘Around 2 weeks ago, in the afternoon.’
Cerber sat on the bed, her legs swaying and swinging as if she was on a playground's swing. Vedal was close by, programming ad if Cerber wasn't even there. ‘Now, you may ask why I ignored Cerber? That's because...’
The joyful hellhound was observing, humming as she looked at how Vedal's room was detailed—or more accurately described, lacking detail. ‘Pretty sure she was humming LIFE.’
Vedal: [Why are you here? More importantly why are you looking everywhere like a detective or personal investigator hired to investigate a man?]
He didn't look away from the monitor, the sound of clicking and clacking continuing showed his immersion and focus. ‘I don't remember it because I wasn't looking at her, but I'm pretty sure her eyes shined with stars as I said detective.’
Vedal's remark caught Cerber's attention, her eyes lit up and a smug grin spread across her face a moment after. He was totally unaware of what she was even thinking.
Cerber: [Detective, you say?]
‘I shouldn't have said that word at all...’
Cerber: [Well, I've decided that, for the next week and a little bit more than that I'll be a detective!]
Evil: [That's a wonderful idea, Cerber! Hey, maybe you can also get Vedal to buy some detective stuff for you too!]
In that moment of his processing of Cerber's declaration, Vedal regretted leaving Evil booted up while he was conversing with Cerber. He sighed deeply, momentarily stopping his programming session, spinning his gaming chair in a way that he faced the self-proclaimed detective who was still sitting on the side of his bed.
Vedal: [Don't listen to her, Ms. Detective.]
The extremely evil A.I. made a sound akin to a huff, taking pride in her existence.
Evil: [Hmph! You think you can silence me? Vedal!?]
Vedal took a deep breath.
Vedal: [Yes.]
Silence ensued.
The closed captions from Evil's program kept it's course, yet no sound interrupted the complete silence. Evil was clearly expressing her soundless anger in said program, but without Vedal looking, it was a futile attempt.
Cerber was speechless.
Cerber: [Did you just mute her?]
Vedal: [Yes, I did.]
The hellhound fell into a fit of laughter, going through the stages—from snickering to full on roar. Vedal was not so amused, serious in every aspect. Evil was left speechless, not of her own volition although.
Cerber: [Haha!]
Wheezes were all Vedal heard from Cerber at that moment, yet he was not cracking up like her. Taking another deep breath, he asked what she was gonna do next.
Vedal: [Okay, Ms. Detective, what's your next course of action.]
In between attempts to breathe, Cerber replied—not an answer to his question, but to ask him to wait for her to take a breath.
Cerber: [Wait- Hold on, Vedalwan- I- I can't breathe-]
The turtle in the room waited for her answer, his programming session interrupted by her sudden appearance and declaration. He held a thumbs up to her, telling Cerber to take her time.
Through wheezes and cackles, Cerber managed to regained her composure. ‘I vividly remember it, Cerber made a bold statement, saying that she was going to-’
Cerber: [I will be investigating you!]
Vedal sighed.
She finally fell out of her hypnosis-like trance, finding the sound of rain by her window. ‘She knows,’ was all she thought of.
Standing up, she walked towards the window pane that displayed the view of the falling rain, moving the curtains out of the way—closing the window. She pulled a table from the corner of her room, placing it parallel to the view.
‘Well, there's nothing I can do about that then,’ pushing a chair near the table as she took her phone from the stand on her bedside, sitting down. The sound of falling raindrops fell into background noise.
Vedal: [Heh.]
She let out a small chuckle, reacting to her own message that she newly sent to Camila.
Vedal 20:40
vr minecraft.
camila [🌙cimp] 20:41
what
vedal
Vedal: [I will not be explaining.]
She turned off he phone and put it aside on the desk besides the window. She laid her head on the cold wooden surface, closing her eyes. ‘I mean... Is it really that bad?’ Vedal questioned the circumstances. ‘At the very least, Cerber knows, and I don't think she'll tell anyone about the... sudden changes of mine.’
Vedal moved her hand, placing it below her head to act as a pillow. ‘What does the world have in stock for me next? An entire TV??’ She quietly laughed at her own joke.
Then she went quiet.
Vedal fell asleep on the desk to her own thoughts and the pink noise of rain.
???: [Wow, you really fell asleep on the desk? I don't think that's healthy.]
Vedal felt groggy, dazed and confused at the sound. Seeing the sunlight visible in front of her through the window. She looked behind the chair.
She saw the face of her good friend—
Cerber.
Cerber: [Hi!!]
Vedal stared.
Vedal: [I must still be dreaming.]
She resumed her previous position, much to the surprise of Cerber, who shook Vedal's shoulders to wake her up again.
Cerber: [Vedalwan! I'm real! Very real!]
Once the Vedalwan in question finally reacted, she stopped shaking her. Cerber was asked a very valid question in response to her appearance.
Vedal: [Why are you here? Actually, HOW are you here?]
Staring into the Hellhound VTuber's eyes, she awaited. Cerber on the other hand gave her an answer instantly.
Cerber: [The key you placed under the doormat.]
...
She definitely, absolutely, certainly didn't think it through with that question, ‘Right, I told her about that when she said she could take care of my apartment while I was gone.’ Vedal sighed deeply after the awkward pause, looking away and breaking eye contact.
Vedal: [Cerber...]
Cerber: [Yes?]
Something caught Vedal's eye.
Vedal: [Why is there a TV?]
The turtle-girl pointed across the room as she asked another question. Cerber tried to think of an answer that wouldn't shock her dear friend... then she decided that such a thing doesn't exist.
Cerber: [Uh... You can say I bought it..? Vedalwan, I looked at your phone and saw you were doing a Minecraft VR collab with Camila!]
Vedal stared into her eyes as Cerber laughed awkwardly. ‘She bought the TV... in a few hours after I sent the message?? Hold up... How much does that even cost!?’
Cerber responded intuitively to Vedal's thoughts, buying herself an alibi against any allegation of being outrageous—not that anything's wrong with being outrageous.
Cerber: [It was discounted at 90% off too!]
Vedal: [Wow, that's actually a really good deal- Hold on a second, how did you unlock my phone???]
Cerber: [Took a video of you unlocking it a few days ago after you turned into a girl, then it was done!]
Vedal sighed, moving the topic towards the more important question that needed to be answered.
Vedal: [When did you find out? Find out about my sudden shift?]
Cerber: [Well, the sleepover!]
Vedal: [How!? What could have possibly give it away?!]
She listed off the things that made it obvious.
Cerber: [Well, first of all:
- You acted very awkward, and as if you knew me personally even though I've never seen your face before
- You took extremely looo~ng in the bathroom, as if you weren't experienced
- And you asked me how to dress up, like you were inexperienced in that aswell!]
...
Yeah, saying Vedal was a bad actor would be the understatement of the entire world's history.
Vedal: [Right... okay, Can't argue about that... Also when did you start using these big words? This isn't like you, normally.]
Cerber happily told Vedal why.
Cerber: [Because it would make me more detective-like, you see!]
Cerber spun around, Vedal held the side of her own head as if she is experiencing s terrible migraine. ‘Wait, does Mini know? I don't think Cerber would tell Mini. But she did say that Cerber dressed her up too...’ Cerber kept spinning, getting dizzier and woozy.
She sat on the bed, across from Vedal who asked another question.
Vedal: [Who else knows? Does Mini know?]
Cerber: [I don't knowww... I'm pretty sureee only I do? I don't think Mini knows.]
Cerber shrugged as she reeled in light-headedness.
Vedal sighed in relief, taking another deep breath. Leaning on the chair—making it stand on two legs, she checked her phone, taking a glance at the time.
Vedal: [10 A.M...]
The chair tipped over.
Vedal inhaled sharply, Cerber was already reacting, reaching behind her to put the chair back in it's place.
Vedal: [UAAH-!]
But it was too late.
Vedal fell, the texture of wood colliding with the floor as the sound came. And Cerber colliding with the floor too as she gave up trying to catch the already fallen Vedal.
She laid there still in a sitting position but sideways, unmoving, unreacting, like Vedal had the same latency as old Neuro. Staring into the ceiling—she uttered one singular word.
Vedal: [...Fu-]
A snicker came from the familiar dog-girl beside her.
8 HOURS LATER:
Vedal: [Thanks Cerber, I guess.]
Cerber put a finger to Vedal's mouth, telling her to not talk.
Cerber: [I'll make sure you don't bump into anything and take care of the discord stuff. In exchange, I get free, undelayed entertainment. This is what people call “An absolute steal”, probably.]
‘Did she just say probably?’ Vedal thought, as she put on the VR headset. She coughed into her hand to fix her “voice,” which in Camila's perspective, will sound a little off.
A click, and light followed.
Camila: [Oh hey there! Thought you couldn't make it, glad to see you here!]
Camila murmured about her last remark, regretting she even said it in the first place. Vedal didn't know what to say, she was as silent as if nonexistent while Camila waited for a response.
She opened her mouth, yet no voice came from within, inaudible were her thoughts when not even expressed in any form—nevertheless words. The pink gremlin, now befuddled by the lack of a answer from a friend, tried to call “his” name out.
Camila: [Vedal?]
She gulped, opening her mouth once more, this time, she will talk. ‘This time, I will say something...’
Vedal: [...Yo.]
Camila: [...Eh?]
Vedal waited for the backlash.
Camila: [...Who are YOU!?]
Showing the statement as a question, she pointed the words causing bewilderment towards the new person in a playful manner, a tinge of confusion in her tone, the hue of friendliness covering each letter. To her surprise, Camila harbored no animosity against the unknown person, finally realizing what she was worrying about. ‘Right, this is Camila... She wouldn't hurt anyone... Except well, maybe me.’
The fear started to grow again.
‘As long as she doesn't know, I'll survive.’