Fairyland [Adriel]

[Astrid Sherinian]

Astrid sat on a stump in a certain forest clearing. It was the same place Tanya had showed her, back when they and Seria had come out looking for a place to hang out. Sure enough, it had been easy enough to find once she knew what she was looking for. The markings in the nearby trees left a pretty obvious trail to it.

But she hadn't come with anyone this time around. She'd come alone to just relax and practice her singing. The somewhat fairytale atmosphere of the clearing made it perfect for one of her songs in particular, one with lyrics pertaining to such a hidden grove that hid an entire world of fairies. On the surface it seemed much lighter than her other planned songs, but only someone who didn't know Astrid's opinion of fairies. An opinion that was largely supported by her Clefable. She was still working on most of the lyrics, and only had the chorus down. So she sang that, repeating it a few times and trying to fill in what came next.

But every time, she faltered. Nothing that came to mind seemed to fit. It was either too dark, as her first drafts had been, or too gentle, which she was inclined to blame on the soothing atmosphere of the clearing. "This isn't working after all," she said after awhile. "Maybe I need a distraction."

[Lillipup Egg: 4/10]

[Adriel Sorano]

Having finally settled into her dorm, Adriel found herself wandering through the forest near the dorm. It was rather nice and peaceful. Admittedly, Adriel wasn't quite used to to this, but it was rather nice for a change, and she could definitely see herself getting used to it. Especially when she overheard someone singing. Immediately, her curiosity was piqued, and she followed the sounds of voice to find who it was. Here, she found Astrid, who seemed to be having a little trouble. Still, she had a rather nice voice, and she was relatively attractive to boot. A slight grin cross Adriel's face as she approached the other girl from out of her view, curious as to how she'd react to a voice seemingly coming from nowhere.

"I gotta say, you're singing is quite lovely. Not to mention that the singer herself is just as nice. I've only been here for a few hours, and I've already met an incredibly cute girl. I think I'm going to like it here~" Then, like some cliched romance novel, she stepped closer to Astrid, taking the other girl's hand and raising it up to kiss the back of it. Then, with a grin that showed that she knew fully well how cheesy that was, she spoke once more. "By the way, my name's Adriel. Might I ask yours~?"

[Astrid Sherinian]

Oh? Ask for a distraction, and suddenly one appears. Astrid hadn't noticed anybody around, too lost in song and thought (not to mention the assumption that only Tanya and Seria knew where this clearing was) to be looking. So she jumped just a little when another voice reached her, but managed to stay composed enough to not make a fool out of herself. She turned towards the girl, giving her a bright smile. "Why thank you," she said, giggling a little at the obvious flirting. Now that the girl approached her, Astrid could see that she was fairly attractive herself.

Then, something very surprising happened. Astrid found herself blushing in surprise as the girl took her hand and kissed the back, like something out of a cheesy romance story. She blushed a little, but giggled again at the girl's grin. "Nice to meet you, Adriel," she answered as Adriel introduced herself. "You most certainly may ask mine. I'm Astrid."

[Lillipup Egg: 5/10]

[Adriel Sorano]

Adriel smiled at Astrid's response, happy that she at least got a blush out of it. Although it didn't mean she never meant what she said, a large part of why she enjoyed flirting with girls was because so much was because she enjoyed seeing how they reacted. The more flustered they were, the better. Either way, as Astrid introduced herself, Adriel nodded "Same to you...um..." Adriel's words trailed off. She hadn't yet put two and two together, but there was something about this girl that seemed familiar. "...er...sorry. It's just, for some reason, I could swear I've seen you before..." Adriel wasn't quite able to put her finger on the reason, though, so, in the end, she decided to drop the whole thing.

"Eh...nevermind. It's probably my imagination...unless you happened to live in Castelia City." Either way, she pushed that to the back of her mind, then continued on. "So, if you don't mind my asking, do you come out here to sing often? Not that I mind, of course, but this kinda wasn't what I was expecting to find during my first time exploring this place." She kept a friendly tone in her words, as if to make it clear that she wasn't criticizing or judging her in the least. She found it a little odd, sure, but she saw nothing wrong with it. Besides, she really did have a nice voice.

[Astrid Sherinian]

And then, the inevitable process of recognition set in. Astrid had prepared herself for it before coming here. Actually, not being recognized was more surprising. Marginally so, at least, since it only stood to reason that that would happen too. Still, the girl wasn't quite getting all the way there, so Astrid decided to help her out a bit. "I've been around Castelia a few times," she said. "Where are you thinking? Somewhere like an auditorium? At the university?" It wouldn't be the only place Adriel might have seen her, but Astrid had done most of her shows in the city at Castelia University.

"Well, either way, this is the first time I've come out here to sing, specifically. A friend showed me the place a few days back and I thought I might try it out as a practice spot. I think I might do it more often, though."

[Lillipup Egg: 6/10]

[Adriel Sorano]

Adriel blinked at her words "Castelia University? The only time I went there was when I went to see...Luna..." She paused for a moment, as if trying to process all of this, and, finally, the dots connected. "...holy crap you're Luna, aren't you?" Then, she started grinning "...hehehehe...my friends back home are going to be so jealous!" As it turned out, Adriel herself wasn't much of a fan. She had nothing against her, mind you, and once accompanied a friend when she ended up with an extra ticket that she didn't want to go to waste. But as far as Luna's music went, they weren't really her style.

"So what brings a super-popular idol like you out here?...actually wait. Now that I think about it, I remember one of my friends having an emotional breakdown over you quitting or something? No offense, but I wasn't much of a fan, so I didn't really pay any attention...though, you're definitely as cute as I remember you being. Probably even more now that I'm meeting you face-to-face~" Needless to say, there wasn't going to be any fangirling from Adriel. Admittedly, she was a little excited at the prospect of meeting a celebrity, but that was about it.

[Astrid Sherinian]

Aaaaand there it was. Astrid waited for all of the dots to come together. And come together they did. She braced herself for the inevitable fangirling...but thankfully it ever came. To her surprise and good fortune, Adriel wasn't much of a fan. That didn't stop her from continuing to call her cute. Astrid couldn't help but blush again. "Ah heh heh...I think you're exaggerating, but thanks," she said awkwardly. Why was it always the girls who were even less subtle that her that she had so much trouble with?

"A-anyway, yeah, I quit. Things happened, and I ended up wanting to re-invent myself. So I decided to take some time off-stage and become a trainer on the side in the meantime. As you just heard though, I'm not completely out just yet. I'll make my comeback once I have some new stuff ready, so you can tell your friend that I'm not gone forever. Although...once I'm back, it'll be as myself, not as Luna."

She sighed. She couldn't fault Adriel for bringing it up, but explaining it every time was starting to get tiring. Thankfully, a non-fan like Adriel probably wouldn't demand explanations for why things couldn't go back to the way they were. When Astrid thought of it that way, it wasn't so bad. It was the same explanation as usual, but without the extra baggage. Finally, she smiled again, but it was a slightly more devious one this time. "And don't worry about not being a fan. I'm not a fan of most of my old work either."

(Lillipup Egg: 7/10)

[Adriel Sorano]

Adriel smiled as Astrid didn't appear to be upset or offended by her admitting to having not been much of a fan. If anything, she actually appeared to be slightly relieved. Adriel could only imagine what it must be like to run into actual fans and have them go all fangirl/boy on you even after you had quit doing whatever it was you had been doing. Of course, just having that level of fame to begin with sounded incredibly annoying to her, if things she heard about show business and how hectic/tiring it could be were even half true. No. Something like that was definitely not for her.

Either way, when Astrid explained why she had quit, Adriel nodded "I see. Yeah, that makes sense. Singing is supposed to be expressing yourself, so I can imagine it would get kinda old when they make you do something that you're not into." Not that Adriel knew anything about that. At this point, it was pure conjecture on her point. Either way, she smiled to the other girl "Well, here's hoping your comeback goes a lot better. Maybe you could wow the audience with a sexy outfit. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing that~"

[Astrid Sherinian]

"Well, it's more than that. I ended up getting into a lot of fights with my manager too, usually over my image. He wanted me to maintain this squeaky clean, completely innocent image and that's...really not me at all. So we butted heads a lot, I started doing my own thing on the side, and sooner or later it came down to whether I'd quit or get fired first," Astrid said. Explanations were tiring, sure, but being able to be frank about it was a nice change of pace. With fans, she had to at least pretend that the girl they saw on stage was the real deal, or let them down a little bit easier.

...Well, she didn't have to. But she wasn't in the business of crushing hopes and dreams like her father was.

When Adriel mentioned wowing the audience with a sexy outfit, Astrid gave her a sheepish grin. "Well, it's easy to tell what you're into," she said, reaching into her bag and digging out an Xtransciever. "It's kind of embarrassing to show stuff like this in person, but, here." She brought up a picture on it, a fairly recent one of her with dyed white hair and wearing a provocative outfit. "I've used that kind of image for a few side projects online. All pretty secretive stuff, I didn't tell anyone that it was me until my very last show. I kind of like it though, so I may go for something like that when I make my comeback."

(Lillipup Egg: 9/10)

[Adriel Sorano]

Adriel blinked as Astrid went on to explain everything even further, prompting a nod from the girl "...I see...yeah I can only imagine how annoying that must be. Though, sounds to me like you made the right choice by leaving on your own terms. Might have looked bad if you had gotten fired instead." Yeah. As if she needed any other reason to stay away from that sort of thing. Of course, Adriel had always been somewhat of a simple girl. As long as something she did made at least one person happy, that was all she needed to know she she did the right thing. Anyone else could complain all they wanted.

She blinked as Astrid brought up a picture of herself on her Holocaster, and it was actually enough to make Adriel blush for once. She was only half-joking when she should dress up in a sexy outfit. She wasn't actually expecting to see it. Of course, she definitely wasn't complaining, either "...yeah...I'm already looking forward to your comeback~" She then paused for a moment, as if pondering something "...out of curiosity, what did you go by while you were doing your side stuff? I assume you weren't able to go by "Luna" while you were doing that..."

[Astrid Sherinian]

"Well," Astrid said, closing her eyes and sighing. "Technically, I did get fired. I'd just already quit and announced that to a sellout audience by that point." Now that she thought about it, if her manager really wanted to ruin her, they could have spun it to make it seem like she was 'officially' fired beforehand, and said that to try and let down her fans easy. But no, to everyone else, she'd still quit. Maybe the agency was trying to save their own face as well?

She looked back at Adriel, noticing her blush at the picture she showed. "I saw that," she said in an undertone, winking. Yeah, there was no doubt where this girl's interests lied. Interesting. And then, she asked about Astrid's online identity. "Of course I couldn't. The whole point was to be able to write and sing things I wasn't able to as Luna. The handle I used was Pale Heart. You can...probably still find all the songs I posted under that name. I haven't taken any of it down at least."

[Adriel Sorano]

As Astrid mentioned that they had technically fired her after the incident in which she told everyone she was quitting, though, at that point, it would have seemed like a moot point. Yet, she didn't recall anything happening after the fact (if it had, she would have heard about it), so it was probably just her employers trying to save some face. Or something. Honestly, Adriel had no clue why she was thinking over this like she had any idea about how that sort of thing worked. All she knew was, the more she was hearing about this, the less appealing it sounded. Honestly, she couldn't help but wonder how the super-famous/popular stars did it.

Either way, Adriel blinked when Astrid went on to tell her what her other alias was "...huh. Pretty sure I've heard that before." She paused for a moment, then the memory came back "Oh Arceus now I remember. I had a friend who was super into both Luna and Pale Heart. He even wrote a slashfic involving the two of them...heh...now that I know they're the same person, that's actually kinda funny..."

[Astrid Sherinian]

Oh. Oh my. That was quite a way to know of someone. Slash fic, huh? Astrid had read quite a few fanfictions of questionable taste featuring her as Luna, and even some of Pale Heart, but almost never together. She'd done a pretty good job of keeping those two separate after all, even given the circumstances of Pale Heart's 'creation'. Although there were a couple. One was some crazy alternate universe adventure where Pale Heart was Luna's arch-nemesis, written by a forumite on one of her usual online hangouts. The other was...oh. A slash fic.

"Oh shit, I think I've read that one," Astrid said, blushing again. "A bit too purple, and it didn't make any sense, but otherwise it was...actually not too bad. I'll admit, the first time I saw it I got a little worried because I thought someone had figured it out, but the more I read it became clear that he had no idea. And...by that point I was, ah, intrigued enough to keep reading anyway." She glanced away, sheepishly. "Actually...I'd totally be into doing that too if it wasn't, you know, physically impossible."

[Adriel Sorano]

Adriel couldn't help but be incredibly amused when she saw Astrid's reaction to the mention of a slash-fic involving her alter-egos, but what amused her even more when she admitted to having actually read it. "Heh...I imagine it must have been awkward reading it the first time." Needless to say, Adriel was enjoying herself, even if she hadn't expected the conversation to be so amusing. Not that she had expected it to be boring, but it took a (pleasantly) surprising direction, to say the least. Either way, she was quickly finding herself more and more interested in this girl, and not just because she was incredibly cute and a former celebrity.

And then came her next comment, which prompted a grin. "Is that so? Hehe...sounds like all of your male fans are going to be very disappointed some day~" It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was implying. And if she was wrong, then oh well. But, to be frank, she simply couldn't resist the urge when Astrid said that.

[Astrid Sherinian]

Astrid giggled, raising a hand to gently cover her mouth. "Well...it actually wasn't the first thing like that I'd read," she explained. "And it was much less awkward than the ones with obvious self-inserts written by fanboys. Those range from awkwardly cute to...really really creepy. You'll forgive me for not going into too many details, I hope." She sighed, but then perked up as Adriel grinned and commented on her apparent interests. Yes, this conversation had gone in a few strange directions, but they were becoming fun strange directions.

"Weeell," Astrid said, adopting a teasing tone. "I wouldn't say they have no chance. I guess if the right one came along I could be interested. But I'm definitely more into girls. I'd have to actually get a girlfriend to really disappoint them, and that was impossible back when I was working. My manager would've had my head." Reservations about admitting to being into girls? Absolutely none. Not that Astrid cared much about people finding out in the first place, but if Adriel didn't have similar interests then she was doing a very good job acting like she did.