paixaorpg | Not Quite Faking It [Active]

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Not Quite Faking It [Active]

Character(s): Laharl and Flonne and possibly Etna too?
Content: Secretly returned to his room by Vyers, Laharl is suffering from massive energy loss... which means faking sick. Sort of.
Setting: Laharl's room in the hotel
Time: Whenever he woke up finally. (Probably several days or more. lol)
Warnings: Nada XD

The last thing Laharl really remembered was being lifted from the ground by his father. He might have said something to him, but even that he couldn't recall, so he most definitely didn't remember ending up back in his room in the hotel.

Of course, this meant he also had no idea how long exactly he'd been laying here. He felt like he'd slept awhile, but it was kind of hard to judge when one felt this tired. Although, he'd have assumed if he'd been out of it too long, someone would have tried to wake him. Maybe it had been a day or two? It was at least safe to assume that Flonne and Etna knew he'd been in here sleeping away. The question was, how was he going to explain it? He hadn't come up with a way to work around that, and now here he was faced with it.

Maybe he could say he was sick? Faking being sick wouldn't be hard considering that wasn't really so far off the mark. He DID practically feel sick. Laharl felt utterly drained, along with groggy and lightheaded. He just felt... weak. None of it was a surprise, given just how much power he'd used in such a short amount of time. He was used to using a lot of power, but not usually THAT much in one shot. It had probably shocked his system more than a bit.

All he'd have to do would be to throw in a bit of coughing, and surely Etna would buy it. He wasn't sure what he'd tell Flonne yet. She knew he'd been planning to help his father, after all.

Well, he'd see how it went. There wasn't much he could do but relax in bed. He would probably be doing just that for some weeks to come.

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Flonne stood outside Laharl's door for the hundredth time since Vyers had brought him home. Luckily, Etna hadn't been around to witness this particular scene, but the fallen angel had been staying up late with worry and guilt. The worry had only intensified at seeing the Overlord cradled in his father's arms, though she'd been reassured that he was simply sleeping.

That had been two days ago. Laharl still hadn't woken up, which wasn't necessarily a worrisome thing, as he tended to sleep like the dead. But what had happened to wear him out so much? She had so many questions. Not to mention, the quiet unease that stemmed from not knowing what consequences might occur from her lies to Etna.

Clasping her hands in front of her chest, Flonne tilted her head to try to listen for any movement inside the room. There wasn't anything she could hear, but that didn't mean he wasn't awake. Biting her bottom lip softly, she opened the door with deliberate caution and stepped inside.

"Laharl-san?" she called out into the dark room. "A-are you awake?"

He heard someone at the door, and at first closed his eyes, as he wasn't sure whether it would be Flonne or Etna, however the voice quickly confirmed which of the two it was.

Cracking an eye open at first, he confirmed it was just Flonne, before opening his eyes, tilting his head towards her.

"F-Flonne..." he said, sounding shakier than he would have liked. Ugh, he really was in bad shape, wasn't it? Dammit, his Old Man owed him big time...

Flonne jumped a little, not actually expecting a response. She sighed with relief, a hand hovering over her heart, and stepped into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness fairly quickly as she carefully headed towards his bed. "You are awake," she said softly, the relief and worry in her voice making her quiet words waver a little. As she neared close enough that they could see each other's faces, she smiled gently. "I'm so glad. When Mid-boss-san showed up with you in his arms, I thought..."

She swallowed, bowing her head for a moment. It was best not to mention what she thought. "I-it was silly," she said quickly, sitting on the side of the bed, inches away from him. "You're the Overlord! There's no way you'd..." Flonne trailed off, plucking absently at the blanket.

Laharl cringed at what she told him at first. Flonne had seen his old man bring him back? Ugh...

Wait. What?

It took a moment for the HL to drop, but it clicked after a moment, as he was able to picture what she'd probably seen. She'd thought he'd died or something? It was stupid of her, but then again, if someone came walking in with Flonne limp in their arms... He'd probably have feared the worst for a moment to. BUT, there was a huge difference between him and Flonne.

"Stupid," he said, almost scolding her. "It wouldn't happen."

His expression then eased, flushing slightly as he realized just how close she was. Not to mention they were alone. However, being alone made it a little easier to be softer on her. "I'm alright, Flonne. Just... a... bit drained."

Laharl was glossing it over, of course. He was worse than that, but it wasn't like he was going to ever admit to it, like so many things.

She nodded, her face in profile to him. "I'm actually surprised you're awake at all," Flonne replied, laughing quietly. She straightened suddenly, hitting her palm with her fist. "Oh, that's right! You're awake now!" She leaned towards him, placing one hand on his forehead and the other on her own, eyes closed.

"Hmmm," she said softly, comparing the his temperature to her own. "You feel pretty warm." Of course, the fact that he was blushing had gone completely unnoticed. She opened her eyes and sat back, tapping her chin. "Well, this just means I can nurse you back to health! It's time for Nurse Flonne's Rehabilitation..." She hopped off the bed and posed for dramatic effect. "Of Love!"

Giggling, she went to the window and threw open the curtains. "It's a beautiful day, Laharl-san! Let's let in some light!"

The Overlord flushed a little more at being touched, brows scrunching up into confusion, wondering what the hell him being awake had to do with touching his head?

"...What?" he began, but was clearly ignored as she hopped off the bed. She had to add that, didn't she? What a love maniac...

While she went to the window, Laharl quickly slithered back under the covers, resting his head in the pillow and pulling the blanket almost over his head. "I don't need light, I need rest," he muttered, deciding not to correct her about being sick. Laharl hadn't even had to begin to fake being sick to make Flonne think he was, so it would be easier to convince Etna if Flonne honestly thought he was.

Although, there was the worry he'd regret this decision later.

"You've had enough rest," Flonne chirped back immediately, opening the window. A light breeze flowed through and she inhaled a deep breath, spreading her arms and her wings out. "It's time to wake up and greet the day!" She turned and walked back to Laharl's side, reaching over him to adjust and fluff his pillows without asking, forcing him into a sitting position.

"Now don't worry. You're still sick, of course, so it's okay to stay in bed." As she spoke, she leaned over him more to adjust and tuck in his blankets, her soft hair brushing his skin now and again. "I'll get you something really delicious from that cafe down the street!" She paused, darting a sheepish look his way, their faces inches away. "I won't try to cook you anything, I promise."

With that, she moved away from the bed and skipped to the door. "I'll be back soon! Don't get out of bed, okay!"

Yeah, Laharl really didn't want to 'greet the day' or anything else, but he wasn't given much choice as he found himself being forced back into a sitting position.

"F-Flonne...!" he began, as she leaned over him, uncomfortably close. His face turned red once more, as her face ended up just so damn close. Of course, it would be a moment like this that he thought of that time in this very room, when she'd woken up from after being kidnapped and they'd... Laharl blushed even brighter. He opened and closed his mouth awkwardly to say something, but no words wanted to form. Heck, he wasn't even sure what she going on about, at this point.

"O-oi...!" he finally got out, as the door closed and he was left alone.

As soon as Flonne left the hotel, Etna peered out from a corner, her eyes darting from side to side on look out. She quickly dashed around getting up to Laharl's room, as if she was trying to not get caught for... one reason or another. She needed to confront the Overlord for one thing that she's had on her mind for a while now. Ever since Flonne brought it up, actually.

"Quietly... Quietly..." Etna mumbled to herself as she tiptoed closer to the door to Laharl's room. Five steps, four steps, three, two.

"ALRIGHT PRINCE, I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU!" Etna shouted as she kicked open the door with great force. Sick or not, Etna wasn't going to let Laharl have a moment's peace. Flonne's pure love for Laharl was at stake!

Sitting there, Laharl was trying to decide whether to humour Flonne, or go back to sleep like he so very, very much wanted to. Where the hell Etna was hadn't even crossed his mind, so he was completely unprepared for what was coming.

The sudden shout and the door being kicked in startled Laharl right out of the bed, to the floor opposite the door.

Groaning, Laharl sat up from the floor and slowly pulled himself up enough to peek warily over the mattress, towards the door. He had a baaaaaad feeling about this.

"E-Etna?"

Wasting no time, Etna walked in, a scowl on her face and her boots making loud thud sounds that made it seem like she was stomping in. She wasn't particularly angry but she wanted Laharl to think so. "Had a nice nap, Prince? Hope you weren't thinking of going back to sleep, because I have some important business with you!" Etna decided to close the window and curtains. For the life of her she couldn't understand why they would have been open in the first place.

After she got the place nice and dark, she went up to Laharl's bed and flopped down on it, getting comfortable laying down on it. "So first off, when did you get back? I didn't even notice you were back for a while."

Well, if she wanted Laharl to think she was angry, she was succeeding. Laharl definitely thought she seemed pissed, and he had no idea why. Either way, while Etna closed the curtains, Laharl pulled himself up slowly settling back on the bed, looking annoyed as Etna flopped right down on it.

Did he care she was on his bed? No. He decided he really didn't. It was a big enough bed, after all and he was still exhausted. Exhaustion > aversion to laying beside Etna.

Settling down, he turned his back to her, resting on his side.

"I don't know... I'm not sure how long I've been sleeping, but I guess a couple nights ago?" he responded, really only guessing. He had no idea truthfully how long he'd been sleeping and hadn't had a chance to ask Flonne.

Edited 2010-06-18 03:00 (UTC)

"Huh." Well, Etna figured Laharl wouldn't really know. For all he knows, he probably was asleep before he even got back. Everyone knew the Prince could sleep like a rock. He did sleep through... a few important things, to say the least. Etna was pretty sure someone could pick Laharl up, throw him over their shoulder and drop him on his bed and the pint-sized demon wouldn't even fidget in his sleep.

But enough about that, Etna needed to stay focused! She quickly got up and off Laharl's bed, then went over to the other side to face and point at Laharl. "Ah! Alright, you! Enough small talk, I know what's going on with you! Flonne told me everything! YOU CAN'T HIDE IT FOREVER!"

He'd closed his eyes by this point, but sensing Etna had already got off his bed, he opened his eyes to find Etna's finger almost in his face.

And... Laharl had no idea what the hell Etna was talking about. "...What?"

"Hide what?" he asked.

His reaction just seemed to fuel Etna on further. She removed her finger away from Laharl's face only to place her hands on her hips in angry fashion. "Don't play dumb with me! Flonne told me all about your little secrets here in Paixao!" she exclaimed, trying to look angrier as each moment passed. She probably couldn't intimidate the Overlord who took down fleets of Earth Defense Force ships and beat Celestia's highest angel, but she was damn well going to try.

"She told me how you rejected her love confession!!" She yelled with the skill of a regular B grade daytime drama actress.

Etna might have intimidated him if he'd had any idea what the hell she was talking about. His face was nothing but confusion as she finally got to the point, rather loudly.

Love confession? Briefly Laharl did internally panic. Had Flonne seen that old post? ...No. No there was no way she could have, could she? Wait a minute. No, no that couldn't be it. It didn't happen... that way.

Relieved it couldn't be that which Etna was referring to, Laharl looked even more confused. "What love confession? She hasn't confessed anything to me!" he snapped, wondering what the hell Flonne had been telling Etna. He was, genuinely lost. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about!"

"Flonne's confession! She told me you rejected her even after she told you that she love you so much! How can you be so cruel to her!?" Etna didn't really pay attention to Laharl's utter confusion. She was in the moment of the drama, suffice it to say.

"You could have just said something like 'I-I think we should go slow~' instead of just flat out rejecting her!"

"W-What?! I... I didn't reject her! She hasn't confessed anything, much less a l-lo--THAT!" he spluttered, almost at a loss for words. Dammit, when Etna got like this she just didn't listen. Of course, Flonne wasn't really much better about listening to him either, at times.

Dammit! That stupid love maniac! He wanted her to keep Etna busy while he was gone, not tell her something so... so... Wait. Flonne made up a story to keep Etna distracted? Flonne... lied? It was hard to believe. It was also kind of hard to believe she'd managed to fool Etna of all people.

...Wait. That meant if he kept denying it, Etna would wonder why Flonne lied to her, which would go back to him leaving and coming back exhausted.

Ugh.

Edited 2010-06-21 06:23 (UTC)

He was being particularly stubborn, wasn't he? Why wouldn't he just admit it and get on with it? "Oh yeah? Then what did you and Flonne talk about?" she asked inquisitively. Her "something's not right here" senses were tingling, as clichéd as it was. "She told me all about her feelings for you and made such a big scene, waterworks and everything! Are you saying Flonne is lying? To me?"

It was impossible, no way would Flonne lie to her, it just wasn't something Flonne would do! At least, that's what Etna thought of her. True, she was now a fallen angel, but still! And besides that, that would mean she had tricked Etna, which was even more impossible. Right?

No way. Just... no. This made no damn sense. She was crying? Something wasn't adding up. As much as he was sure it was a lie, he wasn't all too sure if it all was.

"...She cried?" he finally mumbled, actually showing faint concern. He didn't say anything more about everything else. He wasn't even sure how to at this point.

He was pretty well damned whatever he said. If Etna found out Flonne was lying she'd want to know what was going on, and if he admitted to this... Well, he'd never heard the end of it ever.

Concerned? Etna couldn't tell if Laharl was really truly concerned about Flonne crying or if he was still trying to put up his facade. At least it calmed Etna down a bit. It was kinda hard to think back on when Flonne and her were talking about it, remembering Flonne's miserable looking face when she confessed.

"Y-Yeah. She was saying that she loved you, she told you and you knew. Something something or another, you were trying to protect her and she was starting to cry after she said all that, "she said sadly.

Laharl's face scrunched up, uncomfortable with the topic, but concern showing more. Okay, now he wasn't so sure she hadn't found that old post, but it still didn't seem to quite fit. He was back to being confused in more ways than one.

"She didn't tell me," he finally said quietly, unsure what else to say. He felt pretty backed into a corner at this point, and he couldn't see any route to escape through. If his absence came up, well, he'd just have to think of something to say.

At that moment, the door burst open and Flonne skipped into the room, carrying a large paper bag to her chest. "Laharl-san, I was able to order some really lovely soup from..." She trailed off as she slowed her pace and stopped at the center of the room, glancing between both Laharl and Etna. "W-what's wrong?" she asked after a moment's silence, growing alarmed. She clutched the bag to her as if it'd protect from whatever would happen next.

"Ah, Flonne! Perfect timing! You won't believe Prince here!" Etna sprung towards Flonne and tried to push her to Laharl's bed. Now is the chance, Flonne would clear up everything and prove Laharl wrong, and Etna could rub it in his face! And if Flonne was lying, well... Etna isn't going to be happy if that's the case, to say the least.

"He's denying that you ever talked to him about your love for him! He says you never told him anything about your confession! So, go on! Tell him he's a liar!" Etna commanded.

Of all the timing. Why did Flonne have to appear now?!

Laharl had no doubt that things had just gone from worse to even worse. If he'd had another couple minutes, maybe, just maybe, he could have thought of something to get them out of this, or at least a couple minutes to make up something to explain why Flonne might've told Etna this. Or... something.

There was no time now, and Laharl was back to being at a complete and utter loss. He could only look up at Flonne from the bed, looking panicked.

They were utterly screwed. The question was, which way? It didn't matter much now, except one way might cause a lot more questions about where Laharl had been than the other.

Flonne looked down at Laharl with an equally panicked expression. When Etna was pushing her towards the bed, she'd tried valiantly to come up with something, anything, to get them out of this, but her mind went completely blank. She knew nothing good would come from lying! Why did Laharl think she could lie!? That was such a horrible idea!

A long silence stretched after Etna's demand for justice. The silence was finally broken, however, as Flonne burst into tears. "Waah! I'm s-so sorry, Laharl-san! I-I-I...oh, Etna-san, you'll n-never forgive me, b-but it was important, and I never wanted to, I'm so horrible at this kind of thing!"

Well, that wasn't the response she was expecting. Not at all. Etna just stared at Flonne, letting it sink in.

Flonne lied! She lied to her! She tricked Etna of all people! Clearly the world was going to explode or something. Etna started to expect some explosion somewhere to knock her out of her daze. Or to wake up from this absurd dream.

But it was real. And Etna couldn't help but to...

Smack Flonne's back for a job well done! "AHAHAHA! Oh Flonne! I can't believe you! I don't know whether to be pissed off or be so happy for you! You finally lied! And it was good enough to fool me! Now you are a real fallen angel!" Etna exclaimed while continuing to smack Flonne's back. Of course, Etna did want to smack her harder. And harder. Hard enough to make Flonne flinch in pain for fooling her, but, well... that wasn't going to happen, no matter how much strength she could muster.

Laharl cringed as Flonne burst into tears and admitted to lying. Great... just... great. He should have been glad he was out of the spot light, but, dammit, what if Etna now wondered why she'd been lying? She would probably look at him for the answer to that, and if she did, he still had no idea what he'd say.

Although maybe he had time to figure it out the way she was just laughing and laughing.

He hadn't expected quite that reaction, he had to admit. While Etna laughed her head off, he just... sat there, trying to come up with something, but just drawing blanks. This was all too much for him. He was sorely tempted to just roll over and try to sleep again.

Flonne certainly did flinch at each whack to her back. The last one even made her lose her balance a bit and she braced herself on the bed, looking to Laharl in confusion, tears still streaked down her face. They looked at each other blankly as Etna laughed. She had even less of an idea where to go from here than Laharl.

"I...really am sorry, Etna-san," she chirped up quietly, turning to face her. "I'd understand i-if you didn't want to be friends anymore..." The thought was enough to make fresh tears spring up to her eyes. Flonne lowered her head miserably, her back stinging as she wrung the hem of her dress in her hands. Etna may have been impressed with her lie, but the guilt was almost overwhelming.

Etna continued to keep up a cheerful expression on her face. She was a bit amused that Flonne thought she didn't like her anymore, just because of one lie. "Oh, don't be silly Flonne~!" she responded cheerfully. "You're fine! In fact, I think you should lie more often!"

Of course, Etna knew they were still hiding something. And she knew they weren't going to tell her straight. She'd just have to not bring it up and pretend to have forgotten all about it. She'd figure out a way to find out one way or another. It was just time and... probably some patience.

"Don't encourage her," Laharl mumbled from behind, obviously not really in a position to say, since it was he who'd gotten her to lie in the first place, but of course, this wasn't what he'd expected to end up with.

Other than that, Laharl fell quiet, maybe hoping Etna would forget he was there or something. There's no way they could be getting out of explaining what was really going on, were they?

Flonne paled at the thought of lying again. If she had anything to say about it, this experience would not be repeated! Lying felt awful enough as it was, but being caught in the lie was just as worse! In fact, knowing that Etna still didn't know what the real secret was, the fallen angel was still consumed with guilt. Would it really be that bad if she knew? She opened her mouth, closed it, fidgeted a bit...and exclaimed loudly, "Ooh! Laharl-san, I can't do it anymore! Etna-san, there's something you have to know!"

Oh, was this the moment of truth? Was Flonne going to spill her TRUE heart and soul for Laharl? Or was this going to be another lying attempt disguised as something she just can no longer keep hidden! Oooh, the suspense was exciting! Etna tried to keep her excitement to herself and remain calm but maybe she was starting to show it. Of course, she was sure Laharl would butt in. "Oh yeah? What is it, Flonne?"

Laharl didn't let Etna down. He did, of course, butt in.

"What? No! No, there's nothing Etna needs to know. She doesn't care how much you lied to her, so just... shut up, Flonne," he said, before Flonne could open her mouth again.

That brief moment of thinking they were getting away with this had clearly been premature.

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Not Quite Faking It [Active]

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