Magnolia's Fantastic Adventures in Atlas - Omake
Magnistipula, publicly known as Magnolia, the one with the Super-Density Semblance, was worried. Penny Polendina and Atmos Doleby were muttering with one another, looking at a pamphlet that held a face she knew all too well.
"Trixie's latest concert will be in Atlas, and it's on a free day!" Atmos said, smiling cheerfully as the headset around her neck made a few chirping noises. "We have to go listen to her! If only the tickets weren't always sold-out seconds after coming out!"
"She is one of my cousins," Penny answered, "I will ask her for extra tickets. We could go as a team, and bond over her music!"
Magnistipula made her best to hide a grimace. She had nothing against Salvatrix, but she didn't understand her music. Most importantly, she had to notify her that she had to keep up appearances and absolutely not give away her cover.
"That's wicked," Atmos grinned, making a strange set of gestures with her hands, "What do you think, Magni?"
"Sure," Magnolia said. "It sounds nice."
"I will accompany you," Ciel spoke, "But I do not think that your musical tastes and mine will be compatible."
"Ah, you don't have to worry. There's apparently some guest singer that's going to sing a few songs," Atmos said. "I've never heard of him, so it must be a first appearance or something."
"I sincerely doubt that," Ciel remarked. "What is the singer's name?"
"A certain Shade," Atmos mused. "Shade of the One Hundred and Twenty Three Nights," she added. "Must be some kind of melodic singer."
Magnistipula furrowed her brows. She had heard that name somewhere else, hadn't she? She could connect to the network to ask, but she didn't want to miss any cues of the conversation at hand. She had dimly come to understand that missing parts of a conversation was a bane in any social gathering, and so she remained firmly within the moment.
"Where is it held?" Magnistipula asked. She had to notify Arabica in case she required recharging. She probably wouldn't, but it was for the best.
"It's the Schnee Maxi-Auditorium," Atmos mused, "It's the biggest one in Atlas. I'm surprised they're using it, it's normally reserved for high-class events."
Magnistipula didn't see where the surprise was. Trixie was in truth Salvatrix, daughter of Wren Schnee, her sister in steel and soul and as long as any of them asked, their father would give them the moon, the world, and the whole galaxy. She didn't doubt he hadn't even batted an eyelid at her request, if it had been a request Salvatrix had advanced, and not simply him offering.
She had to put her own foot down when he had begun sending her crates if Dust ammunition from the top-weapon manufacturers belonging to the SDC. She didn't want to appear as the spoiled princess, and yet he successfully managed to just be too much, even when all she wanted had been just a couple dozen rounds of Gravity Dust.
Penny stopped moving for the briefest of seconds, and then popped open her mouth as four tickets emerged. "I will never get used to the fact you have a printer in your mouth," Atmos said, even as Penny gleefully split the tickets between all four of them.
They had to get ready for the concert then, and as Magnistipula looked at her friends, and then at her own clothes, she realized one key point.
She had no idea what to wear to a concert-and why was Atmos smiling at her mentioning that-no, isn't that too much white foundation-what is this 'Goth Culture' you speak of-
When they stepped into the theater, she doubted her own father would recognize her. If he did, she would probably first die of shame, and then kill herself if that wouldn't work. Then, if all else failed, she would hard-format her memory drives.
Her hair was dark, and spiky. Her face a pasty white. Her lips ruby red. She looked like some kind of strange ghost, with fake earrings piercing her ears and a fake one over her lip, she wondered how people actually went around eating with those things.
It was just a clip-on, but she just knew her father would die from a heart attack if he actually did recognize her.
Well, the Auditorium was indeed packed to the brim. The lower floors were filled, surprisingly, with Atlesian Knights, Androids, Paladins, and a few of father's newest children, the Praetorians. The upper ones had people instead. Most of them were dressed in rock-like paraphernalia. Black leather, studs, wigs, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, the only one slightly out of place was indeed Ciel.
She had her military beret firmly atop her head, and had refused to part with it on swift promises of death to the rest of her team.
Or at least, that had been the case until Magnistipula spied a woman wearing a dark blue dress and looking noticeably out of place amidst the rows of rowdy teenagers. Her eyes half-narrowed at the blonde, and as her internal database returned the image in question, she swiftly pondered what she was doing here, of all places.
<<GREEDIZGREEN>>: ImmortalBitch is here. Why. Father is nearby?
<<COFFEEDOMINUS>>: Father brought her to Salvatrix' concert as an excuse to vent his frustration for failure of plan A.
<<GREEDIZGREEN>>: I do not see father near her. Where is he? Do I need to provide support?
<<ROCKPOWAH>>: NOBODY TELL HER. I WANT HER FACE RECORDED WHEN SHE REALIZES. LET'S START THE SHOW, GO, ROCK'N'ROLL IS HOW WE PLAY IT!
Magnistipula blinked as she realized music had started to play. She ended up looking ahead, staring into the rock band that had taken the center stage. Salvatrix was there, playing an electric guitar as near her some Androids were hitting it off with the bass, and a few more at the drums.
There was also a pianist. The pianist was human.
The pianist was playing the piano like a human would.
The man had a dark suit, a pair of dark shades, and a dark hat to cover his head.
There was the symbol of a spinning snake on the suit's back, a snake devouring its own tail.
I'm just a lonely robot-girl!
Born in strife, to battle the odds!
I'll make your head swirl,
don't tell me I'm a dud!
Life is pain, and agony,
but I'll break through,
I'll drag you past the lie,
love and happiness is overdue!
Why was the pianist eerily familiar? And where was father anyway?
People tell me I've got no soul,
I tell them they've got no heart.
The flesh matters only to the fool,
living is all about making art!
I'm a kick-ass robot-girl,
born in strife to battle the odds!
I'll make your head swirl,
my wrath is feared even by the gods!
She was trying to look for him. He wasn't in the lower balconies, and he wasn't in the upper ones.
"You tell them cousin!" Penny yelled amidst the hoots and the applauds of the people. The robots thumped their feet and clapped their hands mechanically, but the vibrancy of their eyes' told Magnistipula that they were enjoying it too.
More songs followed, and Magnistipula finally came to the conclusion that her father was probably behind the stage, clapping harder than all of them.
"And now for a final song, we have a special guest. Without him, I wouldn't be here tonight!" Salvatrix bellowed in her microphone. "Why am I saying this? Well, you'd like to know, wouldn't you? But a girl needs to have her secrets!" she winked, and blew a kiss into the crowd.
The pianist received a microphone.
And then he began to play.
"Snow is falling on this glorious land, colors fading, turning into white again~"
Magnistipula recognized that voice.
Everyone with a robotic soul recognized that voice.
The buzzing flurry of activity from every single robot that had just matched the wavelength of that voice to the one held as a deeply cherished memory within their memory cores could confirm within picoseconds whom that voice belonged to.
"Nothing on Remnant stays forever, but none of your deeds were in vain. Deep in our hearts you will live again, you're gone to the home of the brave~"
The drummer started picking up. The guitarist soon joined. Her father kept singing.
And Magnistipula began to plead through the Network, a hundred times, that no photo of her was taken and shown to her father.
She had no such luck.
Her father's voice through the phone the next day was agony to hear.
Especially because he was incredibly supportive of whatever clothes and piercings she would deem fit to wear.
