Frosty Friday air pelted Leslie as she made her way to her classes, the relative warmth of the university giving her some comfort as she and Betty waved goodbye to Tabatha for now. "So, I've started on your model." She said, taking her seat near the front of the room as her friend took the one to her left. "I hate you." She added offhandedly, taking the time to open up her phone to check her schedule. "How's it been, you had two collabs in a row, right?" She asked, her voice slightly somber now as more and more people started arriving.
Betty took in a deep breath, removing her coat and setting her things down as the loud thud of her bag reverberated in the area around them. "It's been hectic, but I'm getting to know Tabatha and Phoebe a little better." She smiled, noticing the unyielding frown on her friend's face. "How're you doing?" She asked, getting no answer save for a false smile. "How's Zeke doing?"
"Zeke? He's been studying, and I think that Phoebe's helping him catch up with the things he's missed." Leslie spoke monotonously, her hands moving in and out of her bag while her mind wandered elsewhere. "And I just got his medicine, so..."
"He'll be fine, Leslie." Betty put a hand on her shoulder. Leslie leaned forward, resting her head on the pile of things she placed on her table.
"Do you think I'm a good sister?" She asked, though her voice was muffled by her stuff. "It just feels like everything is going wrong, everything is getting worse by the second, and I-" She couldn't finish her sentence before a soft pounding sensation reached the top of her head, Betty's hand pushing down on her gently.
"Shut up, you're doing what you can. And your comms will be open soon. Things will get better, trust me." Speaking firmly as the door to the room let the professor in, Betty tugged on the back of Leslie's collar. "If you want, you can put my model on hold and work on other commissions that'll take less time."
With that, the two of them went about their day until lunch break arrived, they were at their usual table when they crossed paths with Tabatha again. They exchanged some pleasantries over lunch, much of which was still strawberry flavored. "Just a few more weeks before we get our break. Do you have plans?" Leslie asked, temporarily shaken out of her slump by the food and friends around her.
"Me? Well, Barry's coming over to visit. Oh, he's the one that organized the collab yesterday. Would you two like to meet him?" Tabatha smiled, taking a drink from a thermos that was releasing a bit of steam. "I told him about you, Leslie, he wants a sneak peek of Mizuna's model." She added with a bit of a grin before Betty interjected.
"I'd love to see him, but I'm going to go visit my family over the break. It's not often that I have time to come home." Betty sighed.
"Family, huh?" The tone shifted, Leslie's words seemingly chilling the air around them by a few degrees. She said nothing more, the only noise escaping from her lips was a long exhale that frosted over the cup she was drinking from.
"Ah well, since I'm going to visit, I probably won't be able to stream. I should probably make an announcement about it soon..." Betty took a bite out of her food, her eyes darting between the two other girls at the table.
"Is there something going on between you and your family?" Tabatha asked, her attention trained on Leslie as they all waited for her reaction; Betty getting slightly nervous as a cloud passed over what little they saw of the sun to shroud them in a dim shadow.
Zeke sat at the edge of his bed, his phone charging beside him as he put down one of the books he needed to read. Relieved of all his duties, he leaned back and stared at the ceiling, smiling before he coughed and jerked around for a bit. He thought about turning on his phone to watch more videos, but he needed a bit of a break from that. With boredom and curiosity fuelling him, he crossed the hall and entered Leslie's room, opening up her computer only to be met by the lock screen asking for a password. "What was it again? Choice... right?" He thought aloud, getting access to her desktop.
Nothing was out of the ordinary, though it was a cluttered mess of scattered files with no consistent naming scheme. Combing through them, Zeke looked for anything that might clue him in to the file that he was looking for. He found one titled "Feathers" and thought that it was the one. He was about to open it up when his phone began to ring from the other room.
Dashing over to pick up, he saw the ID and let out a sigh. "Hi, mom." He said, his voice holding a myriad of emotions.
"Hello, darling! How are you feeling?" An older female voice replied.
"Better, I have my medicine now." Zeke answered bluntly, waiting for her to reply. Seconds of silence passed before she pretended to clear her throat.
"Are you sure about this, Ezekiel? I mean, it can easily be arranged, but..." His mom asked, the sound of her footsteps and the rolling of an office chair accompanying her words. "What would your sister think?"
"Why does it matter, her opinion? I made the choice to study here and live with her, but now things are different." Zeke grew slightly frustrated, taking a seat at the edge of his bed. "I can't keep being a burden to her." He added, looking across the hall at Leslie's computer.
"I see... it's a shame. I was honestly happy that you suggested this, but I suppose it was too early for your independence." His mother started typing something. "Oh, thank you for the tea... ah, where was I? Yes. I'll talk to Leslie soon to organize your transfer and flight, but until then, you have time to change your mind." She said before taking a sip from her drink. "Ezekiel, if it would change your mind, I'd like for you to stay there. There's no doubt that you'll be leaving something behind, why not nurture it instead?" With that, the call came to a close and Zeke returned to Leslie's room to look at the file.
It was still incomplete, the lower half still missing key details from the Mizuna Fi model that she was using currently; most of which were feathers. The hair on the model flowed down in waves to her waist, sparkling blue that gradated from dark navy near the roots to a light cerulean at the tips. Around her forehead was what appeared to be a crown of laurel leaves, but, upon further investigation, they were revealed to be golden feathers interwoven into a circlet; the details were still missing from them.
Moving down slightly, Zeke noticed that his sister was extremely meticulous with the eyes. The closer he looked, the more and more detailed they were; it felt as if he was staring at a photo of an actual person's deep blue eyes. Tucked away behind a few locks of hair were Mizuna's ears. They looked like normal people's ears, save for one detail. Sprouting from behind the ears were three feathers of varying shades of blue, making the ears appear to have a point should one stare at her silhouette.
Past her neck, on her right arm, was a sleeve akin to the linens worn on the shoulders of ancient Egyptians, the only difference were the plumes of feathers that hung from the bottom of the baggy sleeve. The arm opposite was wrapped in a tight-fitting white fabric, connected to a loose and flowy shirt of cyan shade. More feathers lined the hem of the shirt, the bottom sharply transitioning from light to dark hues to make it appear as if there were waves on it. The collar of the shirt was no stranger to plumage, being lined with six feathers in total.
Going over to the less detailed parts, Zeke could clearly see the start of a skirt being made, though it just looked like a mass of grey polygons. It wasn't placed on the main body yet, being created over to the side slightly, so it left Mizuna's legs open. He found less interest as the search went on, finding things in various states of completion. Just as he was about to end and return to his room, he noticed that there was another thing in the modeling space, a flat, 2-dimensional image. Moving the perspective over, it was a reference sheet for Mizuna's design, with a few markings left nearby to indicate what Leslie still needed to work on. The most pressing matters were the skirt from before, her tights, and her sneakers.
With his curiosity sated for the moment, he returned to his room and thought about what to do next. Having caught up with the rest of his class, he found himself with nothing to do with the time he'd previously spent on reading. It would only be a few minutes before Leslie returned home, but those minutes would feel like an eternity if he had nothing to distract him. Luckily for him, the doorbell rang at that moment. "Hi, Zeke." Phoebe said, her monotone voice accompanying her slightly annoyed face.
Zeke helped her inside, her shivering body making it clear as to what was putting her in an unpleasant mood. "I... do you want something to drink?" He asked, making his way to the kitchen. He looked over to see her nod, taking her hands to her face to warm herself up. Two glasses of warm tea steeped on the table as the two of them tried to make themselves comfortable with the company they had.
"How much have you done?" She asked, taking her cup in her hands and breathing in the aroma.
"All of them." Zeke answered, gesturing over to a bag that was zipped up, and a small pile of notes. "How's class?"
"The same. Though, we're done now. Winter break." With a small smile, Phoebe looked around the room, noticing that the two bedroom doors were open. "Is your sister home?" She asked, going for a sip of the tea.
"No, she still hasn't come home from class. Anyway, did you watch the person I recommended? she kinda matches your personality." He said, scratching the back of his head as Phoebe took something out of her bag.
"I know that she matches my personality..." She said, her eyes no longer seeming distant and her posture firmer than before. "It's because I'm actually..."
"Oh, so my guess was right." Zeke interrupted, feeling slightly full of himself. "It's cool, now I know the identities of two vtubers." He added, smiling wide and leaning back before a nasty cough caused him to lurch forward.
"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked, to which he replied with a thumb up on one hand while the other covered his mouth. "Wait, two?" As if his words just registered in her head, Phoebe cocked an eyebrow and leaned back in her seat.
"Mizuna Fi. That's Betty, right?" Zeke asked. "I mean, I watch all her streams. Do you think I wouldn't recognize my own sister's voice when she came on that one time?" With a wry smile and the face of someone that's holding in their laughter, he got up and went to the kitchen to look for his medicine. "So, can you tell me what it's like?"
"What what's like?" Phoebe got up, walking over to help him search for his treatment.
"Being a vtuber. Being a streamer. The whole thing." Looking at her with eyes filled with amazement, Zeke smiled. "Is it as cool as I think it is?"