Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everyone! How are you all doing?

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The Following Morning... - Lucius' Point Of View...

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"You take care of yourself now, kid. And no going hunting for the next couple months, ya hear me?!" Joseph, aka my boss, exclaimed with a tone which indicated a mix of horror, anger and absolute worry. Like a very distraught, very disappointed and increasingly uncertain father.

Oh well, I mean, he was the guy who gave me a job and showed me the ropes I needed in order to fit in with the locals when I first came here."W-what? Not worried that your customers will leave due to a lack of wild, freshly-hunted meat?"

This seemed to poke a place I didn't really want to poke, as Newman looked away in utter shame. Wait, does he actually blame himself for what happened today?"I'm sorry. I.. If I didn't hurry you out of bed-"

"I'd still be a two hundred and twenty kilo fat ass, yes. Since you did, I'm now what seems to be a one meter and eighty centimeters of pure, manly muscle. Like one of those guys from the anime your daughter loves to watch." Joseph twitched and shivered in his seat with clear discomfort."Yeah, maybe... if you weren't completely covered in scars, bandages and stinking of restorative cream." He joked back with a chuckle.

"Wait, you actually watc-" He shut me up with a glare."Not another word. We're here."

His hover car stopped right in front of my homey home with trained ease.".... I'm not gonna fire you, you know. So for real, don't go hun-"

"I know, boss. Thank you." We didn't need to say anything else and he dropped me off at home. As I had nobody else living with me, he had to give me some of his old clothes which is why all I had on right now was a black T-shirt, jeans and some weathered sports shoes. My ripped up bodysuit as well as the rest of my hunting gear was all placed into a suitcase.

Getting out the car and waving the boss goodbye, I took the aforementioned suitcase into my right hand and the nanite capsule in my left as I started walking towards my house. Even before I heard the car roaring off on the wind, a peculiar scent entered my nose. It was also then that I noticed the fact that there was smoke rising from my roof. Either something was on fire or someone was using the stove.

Or both.

Shrugging to myself as I neared the door, I began to hear some kind of humming, coming from the inside?

I briefly wondered if I was brought to the wrong house. Maybe Martha broke in somehow?

Both ideas turned out to be meaningless as I tried to find my house key, which I usually leave under a decorative, plastic stone in front of my door, only to find that it was missing. Finally mustering the courage necessary, I casually opened the door and the peculiar scent I caught on the outside was instantly magnified.

A form of ... vanilla?

How sweet.

There's only one woman I know of that uses this kind of scent and is also fully capable of breaking into my house."Rosemary?"

I locked the door behind me as I walked into my house to find that my entire living quarters had been... cleaned. Everything stank of detergent or whatever cleaning products people use nowadays.

I don't.

I usually just wipe away the dust and that's about it.

Not that I normally have reason to do anything more... I don't exactly have parties."Lucius!" A youthful voice rang from somewhere inside of my kitchen and a strange figure came rushing out. Hip-length pink hair, black stockings and a short skirt with a long-sleeved, black sweater on top.

The female before me stood at about one sixty, had bright pink eyes and luscious pink lips. Her nails were overdone with a myriad of colors and *cutesy animals*.

To be quite frank, I nearly vomited at the sight of her."S-sister?"

She seemed to stop dead in her tracks as she began to check me out in much the same way I did to her a moment ago. Her face went from a slight blush, to pride to absolute horror in the span of one second flat."B-... b-bro?"

We continued to stare at each other for a few extra seconds before we each let out a massive sigh, our silence broken by a pot of boiling water somewhere in the kitchen."I-uh.. I'm making us some chicken kebabs with potatoes and tomato salad and uh, some mushroom soup." She suddenly said, an awkward tone etching itself into her voice.

I.. was still kinda reluctant to believe that the woman before me was my sister, but my sisters cooking was quite good as far as I remembered and so I decided to give this stranger a chance."Sure. .. I'll uh.. go make the table."

"No need! I already put everything down just-... um.. stay there for a bit, 'kay?" A nod was her answer as I turned around, shell shocked.

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The last time I saw my sister was over six years ago, basically the same day I ran away from home as I was unwilling to take over father's mining company. Take over, hah... More like, be the main face he could blame everything on while he actually directs the company.

No thank you.

Anyways, the last time I saw her she was... just a normal girl. White skin, now chemically tanned. Black hair, now pink... I have to wonder how they did that to her since it looks almost natural.

Thing is, my sister is a music idol/voice actress. Her producer was some schmuck father picked out of the crowd so I can imagine the horrors she must've been through."H-here's the soup!" To her credit, the woman managed to carry the pot over with ease, despite her elongated, multicolored nails being quite clearly in the way.

She sat down and got herself some of the soup, only to catch me staring at her. She shifted in place quite uncomfortably."Ahh, y'know, I imagined that this meeting could go a thousand different ways but this..."

"No plan survives contact with the enemy." I muttered under my breath, causing her to lightly laugh. Good to see that she still has her sense of humor, at least."So uh.. wanna be the man and start this?"

Quirking an eyebrow at her as I ate a bit of the soup she made, I let out a sigh."Do you have a phone on you?"

She tilted her head in confusion."Y-yes?"

"Download an app called DeaTube and search for: Homeworlder vs Raker Pa-"

"Found it!"

I blinked as my sister raised her hand to quieten me down as she watched the video. How in the fuck did she do that?

Anyways, her eyes widened in both fear and shock."W-when did th- wait, one day ago?!"

"Yup. Yesterday." She turned to look at me in bewilderment."B-but, how?!"

"Nanites can, apparently, do imperfect wonders." Her eyes turned away for a moment."I-imperfect?"

"I have to guzzle hormone pills and bathe in restorative cream for the next couple months." She blinked."That's it? Geez, you had me worried for a second."

She put a hand onto her chest."A-anyways, I'm glad that you're okay..."

She trailed off and I let out a massive sigh."Look... I know you're an idol and that your producer probably forced you into gene-tailoring your body to better appeal to your audience and that you probably got sick of it and ran away but-"

"They wanted me to enter the porn industry." Was her simple reply."Oh." Was my supremely intelligent retort.

She let out a sigh of her own."I-.. my statistics started to fall behind somewhat and I was no longer making billions of credits-"

"So you were only making millions, then?" A sarcastic quip, because that's just what she needs right now. Good job, Lucius.

Thankfully, my sister retained her immunity to my sarcasm and just continued on."- so I stole as many credits as I could, stored it all on an entirely new omnicard account and fucked off to the most rim of rimworlds within SOM territory."

"And that just happened to be Eredea?" Somehow, I didn't believe that. She turned away for a moment."Okay.. maybe I figured my twin brother would be willing to let his sister crash at his place for some time?"

I could feel a vein pop inside of my head as I drank some water, nearly spitting it out in the process."You're welcome to stay as long as you need to, Rosemary."

She seemed to shiver for a brief moment."Nobody's called me that in years, you know?"

"Do you want to be called something else?" She shook her head."N-no, its not that its just..." Trailing off once more, she continued awkwardly eating the soup."So... why the flying fuck do you look like a sixteen year old while being twenty-two?"

A sigh, one so deep I thought her lungs would come out."Well.. like you said, I got forced into gene-tailoring my body to appeal to people more and more as my stats plummeted. Eventually, my producer resorted to some weird, experimental technology that radically changed the way I looked. Ironically, I think it also has something to do with nanites. After I woke up in this... disgusting, sex-doll body, I..." She went quiet after that, but raised both of her arms in the air for me to see.

It was only then that I noticed the white wristbands on each of her wrists. Nearly spitting out the soup yet somehow managing to stop myself, I finally managed to say after what felt like an eternity of silence."What do you plan to do now?"

"Hide... To tell the truth, the reason I chose this planet was because it ranked the lowest on my popularity rankings... I only found out later that you lived here from father screaming something about never sending you money again." Oh. That caught my attention."Did he say why, though?"

"... something about you donating what he gave you to the church? Also, I found a bible on your desk.. whats that about? Since when did you get into Abramism?" I shook my head in negative, causing my sister to quick an inquisitive eyebrow towards me."While its true that I gave them all of fathers money, the book isn't mine. A preacher left it on my desk after I let him inside to talk about God. This was also yesterday morning."

"I see.. yeah, that sounds like something you'd do. Never really gave much of a shit about money, did you? Good to see that still hasn't changed." She closed her eyes, allowing me to see that even her eyelids were pink."You, .. you're gonna go see a doctor about helping you get rid of all that gene-tailoring. Soon." Rosemary's eyes flew open quicker than I thought was possible.

She then nodded towards me."You think.. you think this can be undone?" Her voice and eyes were full of sudden hope.

"Authoria's hospital proved they can use nanites since they used them on me. If those things-" I pointed towards the canister I brought from the hospital."-can save me from near death and regrow my amputated leg, they can help you go back to how you were."

She stood up and walked over to me before catching me in a hug."Thank you, Luce."

I hugged her back, despite the scent of vanilla assaulting my nose."N-no problem, Rosemary. Just.. I kinda have a question."

Tilting her head once again in confusion, I felt myself smile a bit before saying."Just where do you plan on sleeping? I only have one bed."

Her cheeks flushed with an uncharacteristic red.... which also seemed slightly pink in coloration. God, fucking, dammit."I-uh.. I.. I'm not arrogant enough to say that you should sleep on the couch in your own house s-so I f-figured we could sleep together until my room gets constructed."

Huh."Constructed? You didn't already order anything, did you?"

To my great relief, she shook her head in negative."N-no, I just-.. uh." Poor girl. She seems at a loss for words."Well, sleeping together is fine by me. I should warn you though, I sleep naked."

A blink. Make that two."S-"

"With a window open at night. At. All. Times." Now her mouth was gaping."I... I don't know what to even say to that."

We continued eating in silence.

On a brighter note, her cooking is as good as I remembered. Who knows? Maybe her being here will end up being a good thing.

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You know where this is going, don't you?

Oooh, yes.

Here I go again~.

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Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!