Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Vanguard happily hummed to herself, patiently waiting on minute twenty-three in the line. She pulled out a small hand mirror to check her makeup; foundation looked good, eyeliner applied correctly, blush in a tasteful amount to play up her character’s romantic tease side just the right amount, and the main course of her entire outfit, a detailed burn scar running lengthwise across her right cheek. Short of the makeup, it was otherwise a simple outfit, since this was a smaller-time convention (and she’s been slacking on her most recent project… ugh… she didn’t want to think about it…), but since it was in the suburbs of London, She thought she might as well execute it cleanly. Realistically, she had an insanely competent, quite literally battle-ready outfit accessible at the drop of her Wisdom Cube, but she felt that most conventions wouldn’t allow her in as soon as they looked more closely and saw that her fifteen-inch guns had suspiciously practical detailing in the barrel, and, oh, maybe the gunpowder dusted along it.

Or maybe she would just instantaneously win whatever competition they had going at the time, for what they may see as such a high commitment to detail that she used multiple billions of pounds worth of literal steel, along with scarily accurate battleship guns and life-like wear-and-tear that a battleship would actually have!

Or she literally wouldn’t get past the door, since the damn thing was too large. Who knows, but she had her pride as a cosplayer: whatever she made, she wanted it done right!

She felt a tap on her shoulder. It was a girl slightly shorter than her dressed up in an Oni Killer cosplay. “Ohmigod, I love your Utjusuju Senkai cosplay! That’s her outfit from season two, right?”

Vanguard’s heart began racing. She was already getting attention! “Oh, thank you so much! You also look great in your Jiro cosplay!”

The two girls gushed at each other, desperately deflecting compliments onto the opposite party, before the girl finally asked her for a picture. Vanguard posed, they thanked one another, and then continued waiting for the line to move forward. On minute thirty-three, Vanguard was finally able to scan her full weekend ticket with the volunteers (another of which complimented her on her outfit), then she proceeded down the adjacent hallway, which was already filled to the brim with an army of Vanguard’s geek contemporaries.

Vanguard was already getting overwhelmed; she wanted to talk to all of them! There’s a group over there dressed in Battlehammer Space Marine cosplays and theyweresupercool ohmygosh! But she had a mission. The Commander had given her a bonus, and she intended to find a figurine. A white whale of hers. A limited edition run, something that no mortal could simply lay their eyes on: A Stage: Idol Pink Strawberry Kazuko figurine. Something so rare that every listing she saw on online marketplaces looked like scams, or cheap Empery knockoffs. To think that figurine collectors have fallen for such a trap; it was embarrassing to think about. Vanguard still hasn’t gotten over wasting her first ever bonus on a bootlegged figurine. The Commander had to console her for hours. But this was different! She heard that one of the vendors had one copy of it, the real deal. One of her friends gave her the tip, and she trusted her; she played Grand Ending Fiction: Thirteen with them all the time, and that was a special bond that was hard to break. It also helped that she lived in the isles, same as her, and kept track of this sort of thing as closely as Vanguard did.

It didn’t help Vanguard’s case that Kazuko was objectively the least popular girl in the entire Idol: Stage lineup (every day of her life, she nursed her grudge against Hanako fans… those lolicon bastards…), but Vanguard felt that maybe, just maybe, she’d luck out. Some deity out there had to reward her for how much work she did as the Commander’s personal guard whenever he was in the Isles! She was a very good royal guard! 

She beelined for the vendor hall, past some of the conference rooms that were commandeered for panels, and, after politely pushing her way through a gathering of Ninja Chronicles cosplayers, she was met with where Vanguard’s monthly fun budget went to die: The Convention Vendor Hall. Only the most heavenly place for Vanguard, a place where all of Warspite’s nagging, the Royal Knight’s corrections of her decorum and posture, her little uniform malfunctions, all of it was left behind in the wake of the overpriced knick knack marketplace that were convention vendor halls. 

To the untrained eye, it was a racket; to the sharp, calculating eyes of Vanguard, it was a bazaar filled to the brim with opportunities, figurine parlays and genuine Sakuran merchandise. It was an ever-changing battlefield, fought with the arcane knowledge of underground market prices and series demand, that even a Siren would be eaten alive in, and Vanguard was in her element. She began quickly and efficiently combing the room, starting on the outskirts and working in; she kept her eyes peeled specifically for the vendors that traded figurines, and she searched them especially thoroughly. This first vendor wasn’t that impressive, she was 90% sure that at least a quarter of it was bootlegged. Next one looked pretty solid - hey, that looks like a cool Oni Killer figu-

No! Vanguard lightly slapped her cheeks. Focus on the mission!

She passed the gacha machine setup. She really, really needed to pass the gacha machine setup. Her body froze. She really, really needed to pass the gacha machine setup. 

Okay, maybe just one, it wouldn’t hurt, right?

She approached the middle-aged man who owned the machines. “Hiya, could I, um, get a play coin?”

He nodded enthusiastically. “Of course! Actually, we’re doing a special deal, where if you buy three coins, you get an extra one for free!” He showed Vanguard the price points for the batch rolls, the pair being squeezed into the jungle by a crowd of onlookers passing through.

“No thanks, um-“ Vanguard stopped. That was kind of a good deal. A single roll was two pounds, two times four was eight, subtract two, divide by four - that was 25% off each unit! “Actually, sure.” Vanguard palmed around her wallet in her bag to hand over the crisp bills. He took them, smiling, and handed her the batch of rolls. She thanked him, and went to browse the machines. Most of them were anime she wasn’t particularly interested in, but one of them did catch her attention - it was an Idol:Stage machine! They’re kind of rare to find, so she decided to spend her coins on it. Another Utjusuju Senkai cosplayer was currently hitting it, so she waited patiently. When he looked up, Vanguard’s heart jumped; he was cosplaying Kojo, and he was cute, kind of in a boyish way, like the Commander. He gave her a smile, which made Vanguard blush even further. Luckily, her makeup probably hid it. She stiltedly smiled back, and he walked off down the aisles with his winnings. She sighed, trying to calm her heart as she kneeled to slot in her first coin.

It slotted. Her first capsule tumbled down. She opened it. 

Dammit. It was a Hanako keychain. Again!

Okay, marginally better. It was a keychain of her second favorite girl, this time, Uruhime. The quiet, loving types, while not Vanguard’s favorite, were usually pretty high up in her ever-turbulent rankings of manga and anime characters. Again!

Oh my god. It was a Kuruki keychain, which, while better than Hanako, was not by a large margin. She was a textbook tsundere, which was fine, Vanguard generally liked tsundere characters, but this one was annoying about it. Tsunderes were so common that it took a lot for Vanguard to be sold on a tsundere character. Probably why she didn’t get along that well with Nelson, she was really annoying about it, even more so than Kuruki. Last one!

NOOOO! It was another Hanako keychain! Her devilish, smiling expression, with her oh-so-perfect brown hair tied into a ponytail to the side, drilled a hole into her subconscious, as if to degrade her for having the luck to get repeats in the same set of pulls.

Six pounds wasted… This was why she needed to avoid the gacha machines. Her gacha luck was always awful. When she had her Moonshine Collision phase a year ago, she always did her dailies, did her weeklies, dutifully pulled on the event banners, and she still didn’t get half of the four-star characters. It was insane.

Whatever. It’s fine. She stood up, dusted herself off, and briskly walked away back into the rivers of convention-goers. She continued her search for her quarry. This vendor had some figurines, but it was mixed in with anime blu-rays and - ohmigodthat’sahentaisection . She blushed furiously and sidled away. If the Commander ever caught her looking at that kind of thing, she didn’t know if she could ever recover… The next one had a lot of Senreai figurines, their robotic visages taking up large portions of the racks. She never really understood them, but their fans were rabid; they could describe limited edition runs and their lore in greater detail than she could, within her own domains. They had earned her respect. Still no dice on her Kazuko figurine, though. She continued down the line to try and-

OH. MY. GOD. THAT GIRL IS COSPLAYING KAZUKO! She was standing in front of one of the final figurine vendors in the hall, scanning the shelves. Vanguard was getting giddy; she wanted to get a picture with her! She looked so good! But she was so nervous. Would she say no? Maybe Vanguard would just be a bother. No, no, no, no. Vanguard shook her head. She had to do this. She was shopping for her figurine, because it was her favorite character. It was professional courtesy!

Vanguard walked up behind her. “Um, excuse me?” 

She turned around. Her makeup was so clean too! Was the dress hand-made? The sleeves were sized just perfectly too, the cuffs opened up in a fan pattern, with complicated geometry sewn into it. “Hm? Can I help you?”

“Um… y-your Kazuko c-cosplay… looks super good…” Vanguard stammered. She was screwing this up so badly.

”Oh, thank you so much!” She beamed at Vanguard. Okay, good, she took it well. 

“Can I get a picture? With you, I mean?” Vanguard stumbled through her words, as if she was trying to ask out a boy in elementary school. Gosh, she flushed at the thought of asking someone out. But this was a picture, it was different. Yeah.

“Sure! Let’s do it over here.” She led Vanguard away into one of the borders of the vendor hall, away from the streams of people, and Vanguard angled her phone for a selfie. The Kazuko did a double peace sign on each side of her face, giving a wink. It was even cooler when she was doing a pose from the anime! Vanguard snapped a couple pictures, then she bowed her head at the Kazuko.

”Thank you so much!”

“It’s no problem! By the way, I love your Terahime cosplay. Did you do the makeup yourself?”

Vanguard jumped. Her heart started racing. “Um, yes I did… it took a couple hours…I’ve been up since six in the morning…” Vanguard mumbled, looking down at her hands.

”Well, it paid off! It looks super cool.”

“T-thank you!” Vanguard was blushing again. Beads of sweat formed on her brow. She was super nice. 

“It’s no problem!” The Kazuko sighed. “Man, I’ve been searching for a Kazuko figurine the entire con. Speaking of that, have you seen any Kazuko figurines?”

Vanguard’s heart began racing up, down and in loop-de-loops. “Wait, are you looking for the Pink Strawberry Limited Run?”

The Kazuko’s eyes widened. “You’re looking for it too?”

Vanguard eagerly nodded. “Yes!”

The Kazuko’s facial expression began glowing. “Oh my gosh! Let’s go find it!” She grabbed Vanguard’s hand and pulled them to the vendor that Vanguard first found her at. They stood side-by-side, entering full reconnaissance mode. To their left and right were others also searching the racks for their quarries, as well as casual con-goers passing by. Vanguard narrowed her eyes. She looked up at the top right of the rack. 

There it is! It was a medium sized box, and the figurine featured the pink-clad, blonde-haired Idol with a robe of Japanese motif frozen in a mid-dance position. She looked at the price that was taped on. 

450 £

Gah! It was roughly fifty pounds over market price! But this was seemingly the only one… the Kazuko quickly caught on as well. 

“There she is!” The Kazuko squealed. She began searching her wallet and counting out bills, before she hesitated. “That’s the only one…”

Vanguard’s heart sank. She saw the dilemma speeding at her faster than the mechs in that one anime she was watching last night. Maybe she missed another one. There had to be another one of the vendor had them on hand. Right? She searched again and again, but she came up empty. There were some pretty rare figurines on these racks, but none of them were Pink Strawberry Kazuko!

Vanguard took a deep breath. She turned to the Kazuko. “It’s… it’s fine. Go ahead and buy it.”

She looked surprised. “Oh, I can’t do that, you’ve been looking for so long. Besides, I probably shouldn’t be spending this much money anyway… I’m already close to going over budget for this month, this cosplay cost a lot…” She laughed nervously, but uncomfortably, with a hint of disappointment. Vanguard couldn’t stand it. She was dressed up as the character. She probably deserved it more anyway. 

“N-no, no, I insist. I can always find one at future conventions, or find a listing online. Maybe someone in a figurine trading forum has one on hand that I can barter for.” Vanguard said with as much indifference as she could. She felt it delivered… slightly disappointed? Which was really good, considering a feeling of abject defeat was spreading throughout her bones.

The Kazuko stopped for a moment, then nodded. “I appreciate it so much. Do you have a Juustagram? We should keep in touch!”

Vanguard quickly nodded, and she whipped her phone out to exchange their contacts. They both accepted each other’s follow requests, and Vanguard waved goodbye to her, while she finished buying the figurine. Vanguard, already conquered by the day’s events, dragged herself through the rest of the vendor hall, like a funeral procession, in a forlorn attempt to find another copy.

No luck.

The Commander knocked on Vanguard’s Dorm door. She wasn’t at their usual café where they usually met for coffees and talking about weekday itineraries and royal guard plans. Thirty minutes after their usual time, he was beginning to get worried, so he went to check on her.

”Hello? Vanguard?” He called out through the door.

He heard some shuffling and feet dragging. She slowly opened the door and peered out. The Commander saw that her one visible eye was a bit puffy, and there was makeup running down. Was she crying?

”Um… are you okay?”

“I forgot to tell you that I was skipping our coffee today. Sorry. Go talk to Wales about Royal Guard duties please.” She quietly shut the door.

The Commander scratched his head. He shrugged. “Well, let me know if you need someone to talk to, okay? I’m always here.”

She didn’t answer, but she was always like this when she was sad about something. She’d come around eventually.

Now, where was Wales…

Chapter Text

Isaiah waited in the café for Vanguard. She was back to her usual, chipper self once the weekend was over, and she let him know that she was good for the usual plan today, but he sent her a text to make sure. She replied a minute ago, with a “I’m coming down now, I just had to finish a raid!” and a couple stickers of a girl giving a thumbs up. So he just ordered his usual (Americano with three espresso shots) and combed through his email for anything important. After a couple more minutes and finishing the draft of his reply, the door chimed and he looked up to see Vanguard walking in with a loose t-shirt with the main character of one of her anime on it… he thought his name was “Jiro” or something, a pair loosely fitting jeans, and a beat-up backpack, with her hair done up in a loose bun. He waved, and she waved back, while entering the line for a coffee. After her coffee was finished, she walked to the table corner that Isaiah was using and sat in the seat adjacent, setting her bag on the ground and fishing her laptop out.

”What’d you order?” He asked, out of curiosity. She usually had a rotating set of orders that swapped out every couple months, and he was curious where on the coffee pendulum she was on today.

”I’m trying out their French press coffee. I saw an advertisement on the door for it.” She pulled out her laptop, which was covered in a mural of stickers. Was that a new one? He couldn’t tell at this point, he felt like he saw something new every time he looked at it. 

“Well? How’s it taste?” 

She sipped it, and he saw her cringe back a little at the heat. “I can finish it, but I don’t really like it. Too bitter.”

“Wanna switch with mine?” He offered. He never liked wasting coffee, and whenever Vanguard said that she didn’t like a coffee order, there was maybe a 33% chance that she finished it.

She raised an eyebrow. “Not in the mood for a ‘cano.” 

“Suit yourself. Anyway, let’s get to work…”

The pair began to run through the weekly itinerary. The Commander needs to run to a port up north, so whoever in the Royal Guards is on deck for that, Mirror Sea sightings in the North Sea are probably going to make the upcoming conference with the Northern Parliament much more difficult, if not outright impossible to hold in person. The usual business for the pair.

”Did Wales comment on the Mirror Sea thing last week?” Vanguard asked, taking another sip of her coffee.

”I think she had a similar opinion to yours.” Isaiah replied. He tabbed over to check an email notification he received, from one of the Iris girls. It didn’t look too pressing yet but he quickly typed out a reply.

”Ah, alright… oh, shit.” She quickly whipped out her phone and started typing something. 

Isaiah got a little worried. “What is it?”

”Oh, the monthly patch notes for Grand Ending Thirteen just dropped, I’m texting the link to my guildmates.”

He sighed. “Vanguard.” Vanguard’s attention span was like a train balancing on one rail; it took a slight breeze to push her off track, tumbling into the abyss of her everyday distractions.

”One sec, one sec!” She was typing furiously on her phone, and she chuckled a bit. “Necro mains are so fucked!” She murmured, before she put it away. “Alright, I’m good.”

They continued, and after another hour, they had mostly covered all the important bases, with answers to some questions hinging on replies from others in the Royal Navy, so the Commander decided to call it good. He closed his laptop and looked at Vanguard’s coffee, which looked suspiciously like it still had coffee in it. He pointed at it. “You said you’d finish it.”

She looked back at it, then a wave of panic spread across her face. “Oh, I’ll finish it right now.” She hesitantly reached out for it.

”No, it’s fine.” He swiped the coffee from her end of the table and began drinking it. It was room temperature, so it went down like a bag of rocks, but he could manage it. She gave him a relieved look, while she typed something up on her computer. 

Isaiah finished the coffee, feeling the extra caffeine flowing through his veins. “So, what’re you planning to do for the rest of the weekend?”

Her expression darkened. “Well, I’m trying to work on one of my projects, but it’s been super difficult…”

Isaiah raised an eyebrow. It was another one of her internet things or something that he didn’t have the time nor wherewithal to really understand. “Projects?”

Vanguard pouted a little. “You know. Cosplay? I’ve told you about it before.”

He snapped his fingers. “Oh, right, the thing where you dress up as ninjas or whatever?”

“They’re not ninjas, they’re Oni Killers! Huge difference.”

“Uh huh.” He deadpanned.

“Well, anyway, I’ve been trying to work on Excalibur for it, but I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my 3D printer… I can’t seem to keep the board leveled and I think I fucked up some of the geometry so the supports don’t hold…” She ranted, looking up in the air wistfully. She was already running way ahead of where Isaiah was. Did she say Excalibur, like, King Arthur’s sword?

”…Excalibur? Are you dressing up as King Arthur or something?”

She looked surprised. “Oh, you’ve watched Mythos?”

He stared back at her. “…what’s that?”

Her shoulders slumped. “Oh. Well, yeah, I am. But, not really. It’s weird.”

”…explain.” Ok, now she had his attention. What about Excalibur and King Arthur did he not understand? 

She sucked in a deep breath. “Ok, so, yes, the character is King Arthur. Technically. Her true name is Arthuria Pendragon, but she was the one that pulled Excalibur from the stone, so she was crowned the King of Britain. However, ‘cause, like, you know, it was a medieval society and they didn’t treat women very well, she had to pretend she was a man.”

Ok, he was following. “Alright, so you’re dressing up as a girl King Arthur. Essentially.”

Vanguard typed something into her computer. ”Yes, I am. Anyway, so, in Mythos, Arthuria and others like her are summoned to fight in a ‘Holy Chalice War’ by societies of mages, so in like the first season, she gets summoned to fight against people like Alexander the Great and that sort of thing.”

What in the hell is she talking about? “So wait, why are they summoned? Why do they fight?”

”’Cause they get a wish granted if they do. It’s a whole thing, all the characters have personal backstories and reasons for why they do it. Here’s a picture of the character.”

She turned her computer screen to him. It was an image of a blue-eyed anime character with blond hair neatly tied into a bun, a blue dress with golden accents, wearing a breastplate and various other armor bits reinforcing the dress, carrying what he assumed to be Excalibur. It was captioned Armsman. He looked back at Vanguard. Then back to the image. “Wow, she looks a lot like you.”

Vanguard blushed cherry pink. “That’s what every person I’ve told about this has said.”

”Well, I can see why you chose her, you probably won’t even need a wig for it.”

“I’m probably going to need Victorious’ help for the dress though, it looks way too complicated for me to do on my own.” She lamented, turning her computer back to her side. “Anyway, working on the sword was my current weekend plan. And also play Grand Ending Thirteen. What about you?”

He sighed. “Well, I still need to practice my remarks for the Northern Parliament conference, whether or not that actually happens, and George asked me if I could help out with baking for one of Queen Elizabeth’s tea parties. Said that she’s going all out and she needs people to help with the grunt work.”

Vanguard pouted again. “You and George always hang out a lot over the weekends…”

“Get your head outta the gutter. I’m one of the few people on base usually that can keep up with her when she enters drill sergeant mode in the kitchen, so naturally, she always asks me. Are you a fucking muppet? You fold it until it's fluffy, not until it’s runny ! Get out of my kitchen!”

Vanguard laughed. “Yeah, George gets pretty intense with that sort of thing.”

”Still doesn’t come close to you and your Sakuran cartoons.”

“Hey! They’re not cartoons! It’s different.”

“I’m sure they are Vanguard. I’m sure they are.”

Vanguard opened the door to her dorm, quietly shutting the door. Her main computer monitor was still on, opened to Grand Ending Thirteen, where she was AFKing in Ominsa, while her other monitor was set to Juustacord. On an adjacent desk, her 3D printer chirped away, printing out the pommel she had designed last week. She bent down to look at it. It slid back and forth, finalizing some of the small detailing on the visible side panels. Well, it looked good so far, but she wasn’t sure if it would end well. She tried to squirrel the rest of her worries about the sword that she had even if the pommel came out exactly as intended and she sat down at her desk, checking general chat on her Guild Juustacord.

Herat’s No. 1 Simp: holy shit necro plays awful now

Suichanwaaaaa: tbf SoH was basically trivialized by even by casual necros so i think the OGCD nerfs make sense imo

BoilingEggs : yeah, like SoH was a well designed raid in the first place. the devs clearly dont play their fucking game if they think that these nerfs are reasonable

Vanguard began typing. 

☆Saber_Light☆: skill issue lmao

Necro mains keep crying! Should’ve geared out a Knight Commander!  Every Necromancer main that Vanguard has ever met are some of the most insufferable assholes she has had the displeasure of talking to. It’s divine intervention, really.

Herat’s No. 1 Simp: saber who the fuck asked you

☆Saber_Light☆: necro mains crying that hand of darkness was nerfed, that skill was fucking busted and you know it

Herat’s No. 1 Simp: knight commander main try not to be an dick challenge (impossible)

BoilingEggs : saber have you played necro today its borderline unplayable, the HoD rotation literally doesn’t work anymore

☆Saber_Light☆ : more like balanced, i literally havent played a single raid without at least three necros in the raid group, it’s super boring and not good for the game

BoilingEggs : as much as I want to agree with you saber necro is just shittier sorc rn

Suichanwaaaa : Yall are overhyping this, I literally played necro on SoH earlier and it was fine. Just replace HoD with two GCDs and it works fine, chaos bolt and entropy give the same buffs you needed from HoD

BoilingEggs : Sui what the fuck are you talking about, i literally checked this earlier, you have like 2k less dps, its a glorified sorc that cant pass dps checks sorcs can

Herat’s No.1 Simp : kc mains shouldnt be allowed to have opinions, are we even playing the same game????

☆Saber_Light☆ : you use dps trackers, please go outside and talk to a woman

BoilingEggs : talk when you can get laid saber

500BlockTungsten : yall need to move from #general-chat, take this to #debate or DMs please

☆Saber_Light☆ : who asked bruh

You cannot type in this channel. 59:59, 59:58, 59:57…

Hmph. That mod has always been an asshole. Vanguard decided that pressing the issue wasn’t worth it, so she tabbed back into Grand Fiction and started running dailies. The sword was still nagging her in the back of her mind, but she’ll get to it eventually; there were quest logs still unchecked, and crafting materials yet unearned! She had a mission to complete, and if she’s learned one thing from the Commander, she needs to focus to achieve her goals.

Well, the pommel kinda printed correctly. Most of the details on the pommel translated well but the connector dowels didn’t seat correctly, so she either had the choice of reprinting it or working with what she had. It was already 12:37 in the morning and she needed to go to bed soon, so she decided just to go into the model, adjust the opening by like… half a centimeter? Quarter. Quarter of a centimeter looked good. She sprayed down her printer bed with adhesive, then queued the print up. She jumped back on her PC for a moment.

”Hey, guys, I’m gonna get off for the night. I’ll see you all later.”

”See you around, Saber!”

”Can I kiss you good night?”

Vanguard stifled a laugh. “Maybe later. See ya.” She clicked the disconnect button, then stumbled over to her bed and wrapped the blanket around her. She tried to sleep, but she found her mind racing. Maybe she should go work on the sword. It was bothering her, she didn’t really get as far as she wanted to, but with the printing thing, well, she couldn’t do much.

Actually, she forgot that it was Saturday. Didn’t a new Advance on Giant chapter drop earlier? She pulled her phone out to check. Oh shit, it did. Chapter 134.

One chapter couldn’t hurt. She started reading. Ok, it looked good so far. Wow. They actually killed Revi, she couldn’t believe it. The Catastrophe was still going, she wondered how the author was going to end it, there wasn’t a lot they could do…

She finished the chapter. She tabbed over to the anime chat for her guild and began typing. 

Vanguard groggily opened her eyes. Her phone was still in her hands. She clicked the power button. It was at 7%, and it was currently 1:34 in the afternoon. Did she really sleep that long?! What did she do last night? Oh. Right. She found a new manga series and was in the process of binging it until four. Okay, well that was fine, it was a Sunday anyway. She kicked her sheets off of her body and she stumbled over to her des-

GOD DAMMIT. A half finished pommel stood in the printer platform, the extruder happily snug in the corner as it reveled in its horrifically unfinished work. She quickly walked over and began troubleshooting. Did it just stop extruding? What could cause that? She checked the filament carriage. Oh. It was just out of filament. She didn’t even stop to consider that she would run out of filament. She checked her closet for the filament boxes that she had set aside, and when she found one, she whipped it out and walked over to fit it in. She looped the line through the extruder, then she pried the unfinished pommel off of the platform, then switched on her computer and re-queued it really quickly. 

Oh, right. She needed to ask Victorious for help next weekend. She flipped open her Juustagram and began typing in their DMs.

Vanguard^_^ : Hey, Vicky, are you available this weekend? I need help to get fitted for a dress, and I could use some pointers on patterns and stuff.

Victorious7 : Sure! What time?

Vanguard^_^ : Probably after my coffee with the commander. Does 3 work?

Victorious7: Sure! See you then! Should I bring anything?

Vanguard^_^: I’m running low on scrap fabric, just bring some calico rolls, i can bring everything else

Victorious7: I’ll bring all my kit just in case. 

Vanguard^_^: Sounds good, I’ll see you then

Well, conveniently, tonight was raid night, and already her group was rallying in the voice chat. Sleeping in wasn’t so bad after all, she could skip right to the fun part! She hopped in.

”Alright, let’s run this shit.”

She’d finish the sword. Eventually. She still had, like, three months until LondonCon, and the competition she was planning to go to. She had time.

Chapter Text

The week passed mostly uneventfully. Other than the couple late nighters that she pulled in order to get Excalibur put together. She finally got the 3D printer to work consistently (and she even made sure to keep the filament topped off!), and armed with the rough knowledge of what the exact dial placements are for a proper print, a wholesale shipment of EVA foam, a rotary cutter, a dremel, and her already fraying patience for this project, she finally had an unpainted version of Excalibur. All the filament and foam pieces stuck out like multiple sore thumbs, but she was planning to batch prime and paint everything when she finished all the pieces that required foam, so it was fine. She snapped a picture of it and posted it to her Juustagram, captioned Excalibur WIP . Maybe she should make a cosplay account. No, that sounded kinda scary. That would mean she had to be professional and everything, and post content constantly; the algorithm would tear her apart! Not to mention that she still had her commission in the Royal Navy, and she wasn’t sure if the Commander or Warspite would be okay with her essentially televising everything she did within an official capacity.

Maybe she could ask for permission? Question for another day.

She walked into the café, where Isaiah was waiting. He saw her come in and gave her a small wave, which she returned, while waiting in line for coffee. What was she feeling like today? Hm. The French press coffee was too bitter, and she liked her coffee at least a bit sweet… latte? Latte. Probably latte. The line was whittled down until she came up.

”Hi, what can I get you?” Vanguard was familiar with this barista. She always sees her on the weekends.

”Hiya. Um, could I get a…” She wasn’t so sure about the latte anymore. Did she want it iced or hot? It was a huge difference in the character of the flavor… if she were drinking coffee with anyone else it wouldn’t be a question, but she was having coffee with the commander! She had to get something a little more dignified. 

If she was having coffee with Victorious, it’d be so simple! Or any of her friends in the navy.

“Ma’am?” 

“Oh, sorry. Could I get a butterscotch latte? Hot.” 

The barista pressed a couple buttons on her kiosk. “Will that be all?”

She looked at some of the breakfast options. They weren’t too badly priced. “…a  couple of breakfast sandwiches. I’d like to order them, I mean.”

The barista finished out her order, then she motioned to the card reader. Vanguard tapped her credit card on the panel, then she walked over to wait for her order. When she heard her name called, she came up and grabbed the bag and her latte and walked over to their usual spot. Vanguard set the food down on the table and gave Isaiah a curt nod. “Yo.”

”Mornin’.” He said mildly, taking a sip of his coffee. He raised his eyebrow at the bag.

“Breakfast. Thought I’d treat you.” Vanguard quipped, pulling the sandwiches out of the bag. 

The commander reached out and grabbed the closest sandwich. “‘preciate it.”

Vanguard shrugged. “I still have that bonus you gave me, so…”

He chuckled, as he fumbled with the wrapping on the sandwich. “Thought you would’ve spent it all by now.”

Vanguard gave a slight hmph. “I would’ve spent it all, if I could’ve. I wanted to buy a figurine, but they only had one at the convention I went to a couple weeks ago…”

He tried to stifle a laugh. “So that’s why you were upset…”

Vanguard pouted a bit. “I didn’t even need to call you this time.”

“Bit of an improvement.”

”What do you mean by bit ?”

“Vanny, you always spend your bonuses on toys.”

“ Collectibles! They’re called collectibles!”

Vanguard sat with her legs up on her desk chair, scrolling through Juustagram while she waited for Victorious. After a bit of debate between the two, Victorious elected that it would just be easier for her to come to Vanguard’s dorm since she had most of the project materials on hand, so all she had to do was wait. She scrolled past King George posting about a batch of pies she baked… Warspite in a Royal Navy recruiting ad… is that Kent surfing? That was kinda cool. She liked the post and continued down her feed. 

Holy shit, that’s a good Monster Slayer cosplay. So much detail. High fidelity, materials chosen perfectly down to the literal teeth on the sword. Lighting on the shots tastefully done, as if they were taken right out of the game. She could barely tell what each item was made out of, it was so good. She couldn’t read the caption, but it didn’t matter. Like!

Wonder how my post is doing… she tapped over to her post history and looked at it. Around 47 likes. That was pretty good! Most of her friends in the Royal Navy seem to have seen it. Oh, there was a comment. 

KingGeorgeV : How impressive! If I may ask, what are you working on?

Vanguard typed out a reply.

Vanguard ^_^ : Thank you! It’s for a cosplay. 

A couple knocks echoed from the door as she hit send. 

“Coming!” Vanguard shouted, as she kicked herself out of her chair and stepped past some debris on the floor. She opened the door, and saw Victorious in all of her fashionista glory. A small leather half-coat, her hair done up in a ponytail tied through a football-themed cap (she thought? It just read Barcelona… ), a form fitting t-shirt and skinny jeans. “…Vicky, we’re gonna be in my dorm all day.”

”Can’t leave the dorm without looking the part.” Victorious gave a small wink and a curtsy as she walked into Vanguard’s dorm, taking in the scenery. “Jeez, you’ve been hard at work. Can I see the sword?”

”Sure.” Vanguard walked over to her closet and began fishing out all of her sewing supplies as Victorious began closely examining Excalibur. 

Victorious gave a nod of approval. “It looks really good, unpainted! It looks way better than your first project.”

Vanguard shuddered. “Please don’t bring up my first project. It still gives me nightmares…” Oh, there’s the Oni box from my first project… Jiro, I’m so sorry…

“Well, improvement is all that matters!” Victorious set down her bag and pulled out her measuring tape. “Now! Let’s get you measured!”

Vanguard sighed and walked into the middle of the room, holding her arms up. Victorious went to work, first wrapping it around her waist. After a moment, she murmured a number and walked over to Vanguard’s desk. “Do you have a piece of paper?”

Vanguard walked over to her desk and pulled out an old complaint that someone in the dorms had filed towards her for noise. “Just use this.” It already had scratchwork scattered across it, including the general dimensions for Excalibur.

”Alright.” Victorious wrote down her waist measurements, while Vanguard returned to the center of the room. Victorious, moments later, came back to measure her inseam. “So, how are things with the commander? Did you get coffee with him today?”

Vanguard groaned. “Jesus Christ, Vicky, not now…”

She grinned. “Just asking. I always have to know all the gossip in the port. Half the girls on base are pining for him, so if you want to make your move, you’re running out of time.”

Vanguard shook her head. “I’m not into him! I’m not. I swear.” Well, maybe she was into him. She’d totally date him if he asked! But he hasn’t. So. Easy answer.

“Jeez, I always forget how tall you are.”Victorious walked away to write down her inseam measurement. “Who called him at two in the morning?” 

Vanguard blushed deeper than a cherry. “…I forgot I told you about that…”

Victorious smirked. She pulled the measuring tape tight a couple times. “Well, I’m about to get your chest measured, so. I’ve heard rumors that the Commander likes them big…”

“Can you just shut up?” Vanguard whined, her face heating up. Victorious could be such a tease, and this conversation wasn’t helping them get anywhere with the dress. Besides, she wasn’t into the Commander! He’s a valuable charge that she needs to work to protect. The Commander probably liked George more anyway, since she spent so much goddamn time with him… she was taller than George was! She didn’t know what the Commander saw in that girl!

Victorious wrapped the tape around Vanguard’s chest. “…Hm, nice.” 

”SHUT UP, VICTORIOUS!” Vanguard shouted, which earned another series of giggles from the carrier. Victorious walked back and wrote it down, before finalizing the series of measurements for the dress.

”Wait, you haven’t shown me who you’re trying to dress up as.” Victorious observed, wrapping the tape around a higher section near Vanguard’s stomach. After she finished, Vanguard walked over to her computer, shook the mouse a couple times and typed in Arthuria Pendragon . She motioned for Victorious to look at it.

Victorious took a look at the dress. She put a finger to her chin. “…is that even possible to build? Like, physics-wise.”

”Yeah, I think. Let me pull up some cosplays of her.” She opened a new tab and typed in Arthuria Pendragon Cosplay. Images popped up of, well, girls with built blue, armored dresses, of varying quality.

”…we’ve got our work cut out for us.” Victorious lamented, looking at the images. “Also, she looks a lot like you.”

”I know. Anyway, did you bring the scrap fabric?” Vanguard asked, turning to look at Victorious’ bag. 

“Lots of it! Let me get it out.” Victorious stepped over to her bag and fished out a couple white rolls of calico. “Vanny, you need to clean your room up a bit, it’s a disaster in here…”

”I know. I don’t have many plans to have anyone over, except you.”

“And who else?” Victorious teased again, giving her another side eye. Vanguard rolled her eyes.

”Very funny.” She fished her sewing machine out of her closet and propped it up on a small section of her desk. “Let me rethread the bobbin really quick, it’s getting low…”

“Mm!” Victorious affirmed, unrolling the fabric and picking up a sharpie. Measuring it out with a curve ruler, she drew a rough shape of the hemline. “Um, in the pictures you showed me, there were a lot of different hemlines for the dress… did you want a flat hem or the white spiky looking things? Or maybe both…?”

That was a really good question. Hm. “…I’ll do the precise stuff. Just leave space for it, if you can.” Vanguard set the bobbin in the top rethreading dock and plugged the machine in. She looped the line of thread from the spool holder (which was loaded currently with red thread from her previous project, but that didn’t matter) and she gently pushed the pedal. The thread spun and spun, winding itself around the bobbin.

”Mm.” Victorious looked at the paper again, and drew a couple more lines. “Alright, we’ll start with the hemline and work our way up…”

Vanguard, satisfied with the newly woven bobbin, slotted it into the center holder on the machine. “Sounds good.”

Victorious stopped drawing for a moment. “Was the dress pleated? Or not, I couldn’t tell…”

Vanguard looked at the images again. They had a long way to go.

“Hi. Could we get a…” Vanguard looked at Victorious questioningly.

“Hawaiian.” She chirped back, ripping the seam between two pieces of fabric. 

“Half Hawaiian, half cheese twelve inch pizza please. Mm. Unit 203. Mm. Okay, thank you!” Vanguard hung up the call. “Alright, once the pizza gets here, I think we’ll call it for tonight.”

”Sounds good.” Victorious said, yawning. She stretched her arms for a moment. “We got a lot done!” The pair had figured out the final dimensions for the silhouette and the hemline, and were well on their way to figuring out the final shape of the bodice and chest area. Their only issue left was to figure out the shoulders, but that could wait.

”Thanks a bunch, Vicky. You’re a lifesaver.” Vanguard said, nodding at the carrier. 

She smiled. “It’s no problem! You can pay me back by getting a date with Isaiah.”

Vanguard’s expression soured. “Way to ruin the moment.” She narrowed her eyes at her quarry and continued, reversing over a seam to reinforce it. She raised the needle, adjusted to another seam line, and continued, pushing the pedal down.

They continued for a bit longer; Vanguard could feel the knots wrapping themselves into a bow in her back, but she advanced down the seam, the rum-tumming of the machine creating a calming backdrop for the pair. This little errand had very quickly turned into its own sortie for the girls, the waves of the North Sea replaced by the fan on Vanguard’s computer and the Sirens replaced by the rolls of fabric that Victorious brought. When Vanguard put it in those terms, they’ve destroyed a lot of Sirens. “Wonder what fabric I should use for the final product…”

Victorious looked up from her slice of fabric on the floor. “You can look through my stuff, if you want. I think I may have some of this royal blue kind of color lying around somewhere…”

”I’ll take a look at it when we can.” Vanguard finished the seam. She held up the shoulder-less mockup of her dress. Despite the Frankenstein-like black sharpie markings up and down each seam and the numbers scattered across the thing, and the uneven and frayed fabric pieces slightly showing through the fabric, it actually looked like Arthuria’s dress. In theory, if she really tried to look hard enough. Which was enough for her. 

“Happy with it so far?” Victorious chirped, looking at the dress up and down. 

Vanguard wiggled into it and looked at herself in the mirror. She spun around, and kicked her right leg up and down. “…yeah, not bad. Looks good so far.”

”I’m happy to hear it!” Victorious nodded. “So what’s your plan to attach the armor to the dress?”

”Snaps or magnets. I may experiment with magnets, since that’s been all the buzz in the cosplay world for a bit…” Vanguard considered sewing it in for a moment, but she decided against it, since her sewing machine probably couldn’t handle the foam that she’d need to use for the thick plating. 

“Did you need help with all the small things or do you have it?” Victorious asked, as Vanguard took the scrap dress off.

”I should be able to do most of the small stuff. It’s what I’m best at.” Vanguard replied happily, laying the dress flat on her bed. She then fell backwards onto it, staring at the ceiling. She felt really tired all of a sudden.

Victorious chuckled. “Sleepy?”

”Yeah.” Vanguard said, feeling her eyelids become heavier than a dreadnought. “Wake me up when the pizza gets here…”

Vanguard could feel the blanket pulled over her as she drifted away into the realm of the living and the dead. For what felt like hours, she dreamed of Mythos, her fantasies of pulling Excalibur out on a stage filled with her fans (the Commander included), and for some reason one of her mecha protagonists showed up in the dream too to congratulate her for some reason, when she was nudged awake.

“Pizza’s here, sleepyhead.” The rosy, greasy scent of the pizza wafted through Vanguard’s mediocrely ventilated dorm room, in all of its glory.

She checked her phone. “That was a weird thirty minutes…”

The dress was coming along. And she had a… couple months? Plus some change for LondonCon? She had time. She had a lot of time.

Chapter Text

Victorious and Vanguard, the following day, had figured out around 99% of the dress, and the rest of what was left was just detailing on top of the existing patterns that Vaguard could (hopefully) deal with. With all of the pieces of the dress that could go together, she got into the routine of working her Royal Guard duties during the day and chipping away at the dress at night. This continued throughout the next week, and she had been actually making a decent amount of progress, although she was dreading the shoulders. It was Thursday, and she was pinning a pattern piece that made up the front-left part of her dress when she decided to take a break, mostly because her back was killing her. She hopped on her PC and began grinding out Grand Ending to pass the time, while she put up a video essay about Mythos on the other monitor. Something to listen to while she worked on building her Sorcerer, since her Guild needed more Sorcerers on deck for some of the upcoming raids. There was already a surplus of Knight Commander mains in the Guild (courtesy of Knight Commander being the best class! Wasn’t her fault that Necromancer sucked), so she decided to help pick up the slack when her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was from… Victorious?

Victorious7 : We’re having a girls night out at the bar near Foren Avenue this Saturday, wanna come?

Ummmmm…

Vanguard typed in the address on her maps app. Huh. It looked kinda interesting, and it had an arcade-y type vibe that she liked.

Vanguard^_^ : Who’s coming?

Victorious7 : So far, we have Rodney, Nelson and maybe King George.

Ugh. It’s not like she didn’t dislike King George as a person, but she was suspicious that the Royal battleship was partaking in… uncouth behavior with the Commander, unbefitting of a shipgirl of her station. Very irresponsible. Victorious was good friends with her though, so it’s not like she could do much about it. Also, she did compliment Excalibur, so she gets bonus points to push her from suspicion to general ambivalence. 

Vanguard^_^ : Sounds fun. Where are we all meeting?

Victorious7 : My dorm, at seven. We’re carpooling in Nelson’s car.

Vanguard^_^ : Alright, I’ll see you then.

Victorious7 : Slay

Well, there were her weekend plans. Guess she had to double time it on the dress. She would in a bit, after running her dailies. Shit, she also had to do the story quests, since the new expansion, Desert of Ruin, was coming out soon… She had a long night of clicking through dialogue ahead of her. 

Not that she disliked the story! She loved the story, it was a grand epic that would make Aristotle, or whatever his name was, weep. But sometimes, the characters were a bit wordy for her taste. Unless it was Jirean’s Sakuran voice actor. She could listen to that man talk for hours. He even voiced Kojo from Utjusuju Senkai, among other characters! He had quite the repertoire that Vanguard always followed, to the point that she has watched a couple anime because he was in it. It didn’t matter that only one of them was actually good, but he always saved the production for her.

Omoishiroii… OMOISHIROII! Motto! MOTTO DAAAA!!

She raised her arm up, mimicking the hand motion from the anime in her chair. 

“Saber, the fuck was that?” A chorus of laughter echoed from her headphones.

She blushed red and held her head in her hands. “I thought I was muted…”

“Look! She’s boxing up Herat, guys! Interesting! So interesting! ” Oh God, they were being ruthless tonight.

”SHUT UP!” 

_

Vanguard felt the car stop and go, as the raucous Camaro accelerated straight into and out of busy intersections. It was getting really annoying, because she was trying to play through Jinosword 3: Chronicles right now! Her face was buried in her Yitiando Swap, the muted colors of the Infinite Plateau contrasted against the bright HUD outlining her party’s current health, status conditions and other sub menus leading to all the requisite bells and whistles of a Sakura RPG. The game came out a bit ago and she has been picking away at it every situation she was in transit (so a mild amount of time), and she was nearing the midway point. Gosh, they needed to make these things shorter.

“George just replied, she’s not coming.” Victorious lamented in the front passenger seat, typing a reply and clicking her phone off. She moved the sun-flap down to look at her makeup in the mirror. By Victorious’ standards, it was pretty average. By Vanguard’s standards, it was borderline cosplay makeup.

It’s all up to me! Slam, shunk!

”Did she say what she was doing?” Rodney asked curiously.

Hyahhh! I’m really feelin’ it! Hyahh!

”Cooking.” 

Yippee! WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER! Wow, Vanguard forgot how good the battle music was. Every time, without fail.

A groan echoed through the car. “Of course she fucking is.” Nelson snidely said, flipping the turn signal lever up. 

Pew! Pew! Shring! Smash!

“Guys, Her Majesty is working her to the bone… ever since she tried George’s Wellington, she won’t eat anything but… ” 

“She’s skipped like three of these goddamn things! It’s a bit of a pattern .” 

Vanguard shuddered. The horrific possibilities that her head was frantically sorting through were not good. Hell, he was probably taking her to his bedroom right now. Just focus on the fight! She was just clearing the Infinite Plateau, that’s all she was doing. She had a quest from one of the Colony monarchs to complete. 

WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER! YEAH!

”Vanguard, do you have headphones?” Nelson’s annoyed voice called back, as another chain of clicks echoed from the turn lever.

“Sorry!” Vanguard called back, rotating the left joystick around a couple times. Fuck, Cole was stunned! When Cole was back in fighting condition and doing auto-attacks, she slammed the volume all the way down. It was too bad, she really liked the fight music.

“Well, why don’t we petition Her Majesty to eat normal food like the rest of us so we can have our girl back?”

The car echoed with the requisite banter, which Vanguard was too busy positioning her party and setting up team combos to contribute to. She felt a chill creep up her spine. He was probably unbuttoning her shirt now, looking forlornly into her eyes… quite scary. They’re probably pregaming the whole thing by cuddling! Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting! She found even the possibility of George deriving enjoyment from the Commander's body offensive! On an unrelated note, was the air vent pointing away from her? She was feeling a bit warmer all of a sudden. It was probably just the game getting intense. They were low level trash, but yeah, they could still be a threat to a high level party!

”Oh, we’re almost there.” Vanguard perked up when Victorious said that. 

“Wait, which turn is it?”

”THAT ONE THAT ONE THAT ONE!” Victorious shrieked, looking down at her phone. Nelson swiveled right for a moment as a knee jerk reaction, before turning back onto the road. 

”VICKY, WARN ME EARLIER NEXT TIME!” Nelson shouted back, continuing down the road.

”I didn’t realize it was that close! Just turn into that lot and loop back out.”

”Vicky, are you a lobotomite? Look! That lot has a no entry sign!” Nelson held the course steady, desperately searching for somewhere to U-turn.

“Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Victorious retorted.

”You clearly haven’t woken up yet, based on your directions.” Nelson turned the car into a driveway and waited for the traffic behind them to pass before she quickly backed out into the traffic. 

Back in the world of Jinosword 3: Chronicles, Vanguard had finally turned in the quest. She quickly clicked through the dialogue - she could read it later anyway, not that she ever did - then she saved the game and packed away her Swap into her bag. Just as she did, Nelson sped into an empty parking spot, and when Nelson switched the car into Park, all the girls began to unload from the vehicle. Vanguard stepped out and searched around for where they were going. That query was already answered by Nelson impatiently walking to the nearby sidewalk, with Rodney following closely behind.

Victorious sidled up next to Vanguard to lead the two of them to the bar. “Wow, Vanny, you look super cute with that bow.”

”Oh, thank you! I found it online.” She didn’t have the heart to tell her it was a replica of a character’s bow from Grand Fiction.

“Send me the link later.” Victorious happily chirped back. 

“I will…” Not. She was not going to.

The four girls entered the bar, with Nelson holding the door for all of them. It had a chic design philosophy to the furniture, and the walls were covered with classical rock posters and that sort of thing, not that she recognized any of it. It also had an arcade section, which Vanguard found interesting. From this distance, she recognized a lot of the cabinets as classical games like Snake or Keykey Dong, which fit the sort of retro-theme of the bar. They squirreled themselves away into a table in the corner, and they waited for a server to come by to order.

Vanguard searched the menu for anything that looked good. Burgers, chicken fingers, a salad here and there, fish and chips… She didn’t really have much of an appetite at the moment, so she silently elected to order a basket of chicken fingers with fries and a coke. 

“Wow, they have a lot of options on tap…” Victorious said fancifully. She put the drink menu down and began to search through the actual menu.

”More options doesn’t mean they’re good. The only thing worth a damn on that menu is the Ironheiser.” Nelson replied gratingly, sending Victorious’ whimsy to the bottom of the North Sea.

”Ever since Hipper introduced you to Ironheiser, you don’t drink anything but…” Rodney observed.

”’Cause it’s good.” 

“Regular lagers make me feel icky… I’m just gonna get a piña colada.”

”What’re you getting to drink?” Nelson curiously asked Vanguard, who had found a leftover kids menu, work packet and crayons, and was absentmindedly filling out the maze. Ever since she was manifested, she had proven to be cracked at filling out these mazes. She never liked the pictures they had chosen for the coloring pages though, it was always some kids show character, like this one, Barry the Cowboy. Why couldn’t they at least put a character from Oni Killers on them? That show was pretty popular with kids, wasn’t it? She’s seen kids running around cosplaying Jiro.

”Um… I’m probably not going to drink tonight.” She still had to work on the dress anyhow, she was planning to get a little bit of it done when she got back.

”Alright.” Nelson gave her a curt nod, and she looked back around the table. “Everyone has their order?”

The girls all affirmed Nelson, and after quickly running their orders by a passing waitress, they proceeded into the topics of conversation a gaggle of warship women would normally engage with: who they thought the Commander was talking to, random port gossip and happenings between the shipgirls, and general complaints about their workplace. Which, all things considered, was a pretty nice workplace barring the first-line-of-defense-of-humanity thing, but they always found a way to complain about something. 

God, these crayons sucked. They were the cheap, chalky kind of crayons that restaurants always had, and the lack of freedom she had on her stroke pressure was really starting to bother her with the lines on this cowboy hat.

”I saw the Commander talking to Javelin yesterday in his office.” Victorious blithely remarked.

”Vicky, I’m sure he wouldn’t go that low. Quite literally.” Nelson said.

The waitress from earlier came by with their drinks. “Here ya go! Enjoy.”

“Thank you very much!” Rodney merrily thanked the waitress, taking all of the drinks and handing them to their respective shipgirls. When they walked away, the topic of Javelin inside Isaiah’s office resumed.

“Javvy always tries to avoid talking about their relationship… just saying.” Victorious shrugged.

”Maybe it’s because she knows your ass isn’t going to be quiet about it the moment she leaves earshot. She’s right, by the way, given that we’re literally talking about this.” Nelson sardonically said, letting the vitriol flow freely from her mouth now that she had her Ironheiser. She took a long swig, exhaling when she slammed the mug back down.

She’s such a tsundere.

“I think you’re overthinking this, Victorious…” Rodney said quietly, holding a sweet tea. She was their designated driver, since Vanguard literally could not be trusted behind the wheel, Victorious drinking was not even a question, and Nelson won the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. 

On another note, Vanguard was running out of red crayon. This was a problem. Maybe she could snag another pack from one of the nearby tables? Shit, that one has a kid sitting at it. 

“He’s probably into George anyway…” Vanguard absentmindedly said, rounding out another section of the cowboy hat she was currently coloring in. 

”What was that, Vanguard?” Nelson asked teasingly.

”Sounds like someone’s jealous…” Victorious tormented the battleship, looking for a weak spot that wasn’t there . God, she could be so annoying.

”I’m not! I’m just saying, he’s always mentioning that he has to go to George’s to help her cook and stuff… it’s just a little suspicious.” Vanguard lamented, stopping her impromptu arts and crafts session to look up at the rest of the girls. “He says he’s not, but that’s exactly what George would tell him to say, right? Royal dignity and all that.” All the perfect royal girls always won the main character’s hearts anyway… They always had one or two imperfections that the fanbase latched on to justify it, but she knew that authors never really went through with stopping the ship from leaving port. Every time. 

”Ok, Vanguard might actually be on to something…” Nelson said peculiarly, which only threw more fuel onto the ensuing oil fire that was this conversation topic.

“Well, the Commander is just the kind of man to help us with our more mundane tasks… it may be presumptuous to assume a romantic connection is present between the two…” Rodney said hesitantly, making a futile effort at stopping the rumor train speeding down its tracks at the table.

”This Commander’s kinda old fashioned. I’ve tried teasing him a little, but he hasn’t taken the bait.” Victorious rued upon her feminine wiles, failing to capture Isaiah’s heart. 

Oh, hey, that server had their food. Vanguard saw her chicken fingers next to Rodney’s caesar salad. “Vicky, we both know you’re not the kind of girl that the Commander would date…” Vanguard shuddered at the thought. Jeez. She knew Victorious well enough to know that she’d bankrupt him in a week flat with access to his credit card. 

The server delivered their food, handing them each their basket. Vanguard’s chicken fingers looked absolutely divine to the hungry battleship, while the rest of the table grabbed at their food. Rodney thanked the server again in the most courteous fashion befitting a Royal Navy battleship, and they began to dig in.

Victorious took a bite out of her avocado burger before continuing. ”Which is why I’m more of his guardian angel. Or matchmaker. He doesn’t know it, but I’ve secretly plotted with a couple of the girls to try and set them up with him.”

”Jesus Christ, Vicky!” Nelson barked, laughing at Victorious’ statement. 

Vanguard shot her an accusing look. “So wait, do you know anything about George and Isaiah?” She had to know! This was very important to know as his Royal Guard. It would help her track down suspects if he was found dead in his room or something, 

“If there is, I wouldn’t know. I’m being honest. George and I are chill, but she’s pretty cagey about her personal life.”

Vanguard felt herself involuntarily let out a sigh. Well, if Victorious was being truthful, she didn’t have too much to worry about. Right?

“Well, she’s certainly hot enough for the Commander. He strikes me as someone with a taste for royal blondes.” Nelson noted, finishing her beer. She motioned for another from a nearby server, and they scampered off to refill her Ironheiser.

”You’re just saying that because I’m here.” Rodney pouted, munching on a crouton she picked out from her salad. 

“Mhm.” Nelson poked at her sister, which spiraled into a series of insults back and forth between the two. 

Vanguard returned to her unfinished coloring page. She kinda had to finish it, now that she started it.

_

They stayed at the bar for a pretty long time, until Victorious was barely functional and Nelson was beginning to shout insults at passerby. Rodney decided to get them out of there and into their escape vehicle before things escalated any further, and Vanguard was smashed into the passenger seat, with Nelson and Victorious sprawled out in the back, seatbelts haphazardly tied on them. They drove out, and Vanguard whipped out her Swap to begin (silently) playing it when Rodney turned to her. 

“So, Vanguard, how have you been?”

Where was this coming from? She pulled her swap out of her bag and hit the power button before she replied. “Uh, good. Why?”

”Just thought you were a bit quiet at the table. Wanted to make sure everything was okay.” Rodney calmly piloted the vehicle, as if she was manifested to drive it. Which was funny, given that it was her sister’s car.

”I’ve just been super busy with my whole guard duty. And I’ve been pulling late nights working on my cosplay, so.” Vanguard lamented, opening up Jinosword. This intro screen was way worse without the music…

”That makes sense. Thanks for bearing with my sister, she can be really insensitive sometimes…”

Really? She wasn’t too bad. Well, she thought she could get annoying sometimes, but Nelson had a good heart. All tsunderes did, at the end of the day (except for that bitch Kasuka, fuck her.) “No, it’s totally fine. Nelson’s really funny when she’s getting into it.”

Rodney chuckled. “I suppose you’re right.” 

Well, that’s another Girls Night Out for what was basically becoming all of Victorious’ friends completed. Vanguard was probably too sleepy to deal with the dress when she got back, but she had like… two months? And a week? Maybe? She had time.

Chapter Text

In, and out. 

In, out, and around.

In, and out.

Let the folds shape naturally, and guide the needle through. 

It was just Vanguard, the dress and her needle. Built stitch by stitch, her cosplay was taking shape. Only after, maybe, ten hours so far of nothing but hand stitching, four of which were from this night alone.

Shit. Vanguard pricked her finger on accident. Did it draw blood? Fuck, it drew blood. She lifted her finger to her mouth to stop the bleeding, before it got on the lining that she was stitching on. The movie that she had going continued chirping - it was an action flick, movie gunfire was calming for Vanguard - while she decided whether or not it was worth getting out of bed to get a band-aid from her desk.

Hm.

She was probably out of band-aids anyway. She elected to wait for her finger to stop bleeding while watching her movie. She’s already watched it; it was one of her, maybe, ten movies that she had in her hand-sewing rotation? It couldn’t be something that she wanted to pay attention to, like a seasonal anime or something. Sadly, her understanding of Japanese was limited to phrases like Arigatou gozaimasu!, Konnichiwa! Hajimemashite!, Korosu!, all the common ones. Rewatching anime was nice, but she’d have to watch it dubbed, and she usually wasn’t in the mood for listening to dubbed anime when she couldn’t be actively watching the fight scenes, anyway. That was kind of the whole point of watching anime. 

It was one of those movies where Vanguard could look up and see the main actor - oh, sweet lord, he was hot - killing three gangsters in quick succession, then go back to her sewing. It was nice.

Her phone buzzed. It was a discord call, from one of her guildmates, Suichan. She swiped the answer button up.

”’Sup.”

”Yo, Saber, our main tank flaked on us again. Can you get on for a raid?”

Vanguard wiped her finger on her sheets, while adjusting her posture. ”Are you kidding me? Hasn’t that fucker flaked twice already?” According to the Arclight Scions Official Rulebook (a forty page document filled to the brim with a labyrinth of rule clauses and subsections adjudicating every possible dispute to be found in an online MMORPG), Dungeons and Raids, Line 42, subsection B, Failure to attend a scheduled raid without proper forewarning or a substitute will result in immediate revocation of raid permissions.

A sigh. “The dude’s friends with Jackson, we can’t really do anything.”

Right. God, guild politics sucked. “Uh huh.” The fuck, she missed ONE raid because of an emergency, and she couldn’t raid for a month! This guy got away with three? “Well, I can’t really raid right now, I’m busy.” She also had work in the morning.

”Doing what? You with a dude or something?”

”Fuck off, dude!” Vanguard blushed red, shrinking inward into the sheets while pulling her legs up to her chest. “I’m working on my cosplay right now!”

”Don’t you have a month or two until the con?”

Well, she did. Two months. “But I still have to get a lot of work done on it.”

”Look, if you pick this raid up, I’ll make sure you stay off the weekend raid teams. Alright?”

Ok, that was actually quite the tempting offer. Her guild was pretty hardcore, so Vanguard and her guildmates were required to fill weekly raiding time slots. In effect, Vanguard got the entire weekend to work on her stuff.

”…Alright, alright, I’ll be on in a sec, I gotta boot my computer up.”

Vanguard shotgunned the can of Redbull, letting the ambrosia flow down her throat and into her veins. That raid went way longer than she thought it would - one of their healers wasn’t familiar with the raid mechanics and got the party killed multiple times, what could she do - and she had to clock in for an early shift. She… hasn’t gotten a single wink of sleep, since she had like, an hour before work when the raid was done. She decided that it would be more productive to continue the stitch she was working on and go to work when it was time. But she was fine, really.

And besides, luckily, today shouldn’t be too busy. She couldn’t do much until the venue for the Northern Parliament - Azur Lane conference was chosen, and she had already picked out her retinue to protect the Commander en route, so her current job was glorified coffee mule. She was fine, to work, really! She briskly walked into the office, giving a quick nod to the receptionist, before quickly pathing through the halls to the secure wing, where the Commander would be. Oh, the Commander just randomly appeared from one of the bathrooms. She was fine. 

Just act fine, Vanguard. It’s not hard.

”Hello, Commander.” She put on her best smile. After all, she was his Royal Guard! She had to look like she was fine. 

”Oh… hi.” He gave her a weary look.

”Is something wrong?”

Vanguard wasn’t acting right. She was swaying back and forth while walking, and her eyes were bloodshot. 

“Um… are you alright?”

”O-of c-c-course!” Vanguard crushed the can of Redbull in her hand and tried to smoothly drop it into a trash can that they were passing. Unfortunately, her timing was a bit late. She stumbled forward, completely ignoring the fact the now apple core-esque can clattered onto the floor in between a plant and the trash can, while trying her best at… was that a smile? That’s a smile, right?

“Vanguard, did you get any sleep last night?” Isaiah was beginning to suspect that Vanguard shenanigans were afoot for her less than stellar first impression that morning.

”Um… of course! Yes, yes I got sleep last night!” She nodded up and down furiously. “Mhm!”

”…right.” Isaiah continued forward, now that he was certain Vanguard was walking straight. At that moment in time, at least. “Well, don’t push yourself. It’s just gonna be planning today, so I’ll call you if we need help with anything.”

“You got it!” Vanguard dissonantly chirped, holding her hand out in a crooked thumbs up. 

Isaiah briefly considered sending her home and replacing her with Belfast or something, but Vanguard seemed like she wouldn’t take no for an answer. He sighed, and pushed the door open to his office.

The first hour of Vanguard’s shift passed without incident. Well, as without incident as any other work day in the port of Scapa Flow - shipgirl shenanigans were really pronounced in office settings, for some reason. She had to turn away multiple destroyer girls who forgot to book appointments with the Commander, one of which was one of her frequent flyers, Foxhound. That girl can’t schedule an appointment to save her life. It probably had something to do with the fact that most shipgirls, by their nature, were born soldiers, not paper pushers. The girls that enjoyed office work were the ones that scared Vanguard. Vanguard only kept up with her deadlines because Isaiah would kill her if she failed to.

And she felt fine, after drinking that second Redbull. Shipgirl physiology meant she had to drink a lot more of any substances like caffeine to feel it, and Redbulls were no different.

The second hour dragged on, but Vanguard felt fine the entire way. Really, she was fine! She’s done this before, doing guard shifts after an all-nighter. She’s been able to do it before without incident, and she would pull it off again.

Wait, was that someone snapping? ”…Vanguard? Vanguard!” 

W-what? “Uh-ah, um, yes? Wales?” In Vanguard’s face was a white, royally stitched glove, which was then brought down to the waist of a shipgirl with waist length golden hair, and red eyes, carrying a tablet.

”It’s George. I had an appointment scheduled right now.”

Oh, right. Isaiah mentioned that a bit ago, somewhere in hour one. “Oh, yes, he’s expecting you. Come in.”

”…Thank you.” Wale-, no, George - gave her a weary look before entering the office. Vanguard wiped her brow. 

Whew! She had this shift in the bag.

George gently pulled the door closed. She looked up at the Commander. “Is your guard okay? She seemed a bit out of it this morning.”

The Commander sighed. “I think she pulled an all-nighter and is trying to hide it. I nearly sent her home this morning, but she seemed eager, so I didn’t want to say anything.” He gave a slight shrug, typing another couple sentences into his keyboard. 

”Well, you probably should. She looks like a zombie in the hallway.” George cleared her throat. “Anyway. About the conference.”

”Right.” The Commander cleared his throat, while George took her seat. “Vanguard picked her people out, you can take a look if you want.”

”Mm.” The Commander turned the monitor towards her, and she began reading off the names. It was mostly just the regulars - Belfast, Howe, Victorious, Amazon, Vampire, and Vanguard. Strangely, she didn’t see herself on the list.

”…is there any reason why Vanguard didn’t slate me in the guard detail for this conference?”

He shrugged again. “Beats me. I was also a bit surprised, since you’re one of our more diplomatically oriented girls.”

”…right.” George shrugged. “Well, if I may offer my services…”

”Way ahead of you.” The Commander typed her name below Vampire’s in the shared spreadsheet document. “You came along to one of these last time and it worked out fine. Hell, the Ironbloods had a lot to say about you afterwards.”

George nodded. “Good things?”

“Obviously.” Both of them chuckled a moment, before being silent for a couple moments. “…Well, will that be all?”

”Believe so. Just let me know when you’re doing the interview for the new base chef, I want to be there for it.”

”No.” The Commander immediately deadpanned. “You failed the last four. We need a new guy on deck to keep up with the traffic, you’re going to accept whoever me and the hospitality people choose.”

”Fiiine.” George annoyedly said, pushing her chair in. She picked up her tablet and wrote down a couple quick notes as she went for the door, mumbling the reminders she was writing for herself down. She opened the door, turned left, and continued on with her day.

That bitch. Vanguard watched George striding down the hallway, thinking she owned the place. One of the destroyer attendants passed her, greeting the battleship emphatically. George returned the greeting, the ever-lasting visage of Royal Navy deference and nobility gracing the port of Scapa Flow. Yet, she had the nerve to tell the Commander that she was more fit for being a Royal Guard than Vanguard was.

Hour three got ruined by George. Whatever, I guess, she’s coming along.

Vanguard simply believed that George’s ego may not have done well with the Northern Parliament. After all, at least according to her couple interactions with Northern girls, they were weary of Royals. She needed people who were… how did she put it… less overbearing?

And she really thought her behavior towards Isaiah was uncouth. Really.

Maybe she should ask the next destroyer to pass by for another Redbull, from the vending machines. She probably should, to make it through the rest of the shift.

Hours four and five passed without incident. A couple more girls came in for meetings, and she processed them with the expert precision a Royal Guard such as herself was expected to. Proper, with no time to spare, perfectly blocked out with no wasted seconds between appointments. This was her job. She was good at it.

After Javelin walked out of the room, Isaiah followed her out, giving a nod to Vanguard. “Come with me.” He motioned for her to follow.

“S-sure.” Vanguard stumbled from her standing position and began following Isaiah. She did her absolute best to stuff the yawn she began as he walked out, turning it into a warped cough. She looked away, watching the roiling calm of an Azur Lane office space run like a well oiled machine. Destroyers ran around carrying tablets and documents, either shredding papers or carting them off to other offices and meeting rooms. 

The two eventually found one of the stairwells, which led into both roof access and a small exit, which fed into one of the nearby truck loading docks. “We’re going on a walk.”

“O-okay.” The two of them made their way down the stairs and to the overcast, ocean-wind blown exterior of their command center. The waves lapped in the distance, shipgirls of every flag running drills in the bay. Isaiah stopped to watch them for a moment, before eventually continuing down the walkway, Vanguard in tow. The sun was slightly re-vitalizing her, if only slightly hiding her wobbling.

“You pulled an all-nighter, didn’t you?” He asked casually. 

“Ummmmm… yeah.” Vanguard eventually admitted. “I was working on my cosplay, then my guild needed someone to cover for a raid, and Suichan offered to keep me out of the weekend raids so I could work on it, since I have a month and a half until the convention I want to make–”

Isaiah irritably sighed, scratching at his stubble. “What am I going to do with you… look, most, if not all, the girls that came in today mentioned yoi were really off today. If you’re going to pull this stunt, just suck it up and tell me, so I can swap you with someone for the day.” He explained tiredly. “You’re my Royal Guard. I have a standard to expect from you. You have not been reaching that standard, and it began with this project of yours. You’ve had your other… things, in the past, but it’s never been this bad.”

Vanguard shrunk inward. “Sorry… it won’t happen again…”

“It will, if this little project of yours keeps terrorizing our schedules.” He sighed again. “What can I do to help?” 

“W-wha?” Vanguard sputtered

“I said what I said. I’ll take my personal time to help get… what was it, King Arthur?”

“Arthuria Pendragon.” Vanguard droned. Even while sleep deprived, she had access to her ever expanding encyclopedia of anime.

He snapped his fingers. “Yeah, that. I’ll help you get this done so it can be out of both of our schedules and you can play your games while we work out this Conference. Alright?” Isaiah stared at her expectandly, his green eyes searching her for an answer.

“Uhmm…” Vanguard’s heart began racing. He was offering to help. Which meant he’d be going over to her dorm. She was not prepared for that. “Are you sure? I mean, you’d have a lot to learn, and I don’t know if either of us have the time to teach you everything in this short of a timeframe…”

“Just send me everything to look at and I’ll pick it up. You said you were clearing your schedule this weekend?” Isaiah said gruffly. “It can’t be any worse than being George’s assistant chef.”

“Y-yes…” 

“Great. Send me whatever you want me to look at.” Isaiah lightly tapped her shoulder. “I’ll see you then. Go home and sleep.” Vanguard stood there frozen, as Isaiah sauntered back to the command center.

Her heart kept racing. She was getting help, but in the worst way possible. Isaiah would be helping her, probably in her room, with just the two of them. That was something she really wasn’t sure if she was ready for. What would George think? Maybe she’d see the two of them and freak out. Send a salvo at her dorm and destroy her cosplay. Reveal that she actually hated her Excalibur and that cosplay wasn’t an actual artform. Did she mention she would be alone with Isaiah? The shipgirl rumor mill would run like there was no tomorrow. Victorious would think they were doing unsavory things. Horrible things. Things that made her heart race… GAH!

“Stop thinking about this, stop thinking about this, stop thinking about this…” She murmured to herself. A small destroyer picket on break passed by, giving the sleep-deprived battleship a couple incredulous glances and a wide berth on the concrete walkway.

Vanguard yawned again. She was really tired. She mentally catalogued what beginner foamwork and sewing tutorials she would send to Isaiah as she dragged herself back to her dorm.

At least she was off the weekend raid teams. That was something.