[Goth TF]
"Hey, Takane. You sure you invited the right person?"
"Of course, Kikuchi. There's only one that could possibly stand alongside me on the stage, and that person is you. Do you perhaps feel inadequate?"
"Inadequate's a bit much but I definitely don't think I fit on that kinda stage."
"Nonsense, Kikuchi. I've seen you sing your heart out as an idol. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that you'll do well on the acting stage as well."
Two young idols from 765 Production were standing back stage, discussing the play that was going to happen later that night. A play that the more regal of the two girls had signed the two up for out of the blue, mostly because she was in the mood to stretch her proverbial wings and act her heart out.
The regal girl was Shijou Takane. A rich girl who didn't seem to fit the stereotype. She was polite, even if she was overly courteous whenever she spoke. What mattered to her was not just the wellbeing of her friends and her coworkers, but the way they all shined on stage. Something that she took great care in nurturing, whether it was her own talent or that of her friends.
And the girl who sounded a lot less confident and a lot more rough than the rich shining star was Kikuchi Makoto. Compared to Takane, she was not only plain but a lot less feminine due to having been brought up as a boy. Even when she stepped out on stage, the female fans crowded to hear her sing much more than the male fans. It gave her a bit of a reputation and landed her a lot of masculine roles. Something she wasn't exactly against, even if it meant that she wasn't pursuing her ultimate goal of getting more feminine.
"Yeah, but that's when I'm singing. I have two left feet when I try to get on a stage and act." Makoto sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. She didn't want to disappoint her friend, but she also wasn't about to act like she was actually good at something she kept flunking at.
Takane let out a soft chuckle as she took a little step towards her boyish friend and clamped her hands down on those adorable cheeks. "Kikuchi. You're much better than you think you are. And I wll make sure that you understand. We just need to get a little bit of practice in, and everything will fall into place. They do say that method acting allows you to get more in touch with your role, and what better way to method act than to truly become one with your role?"
Makoto blushed as she felt those warm and tender hands brushing up against her face. Could she say no to Takane? Probably. Did she want to? Nah. Just like Takane, she had trust in her friends and her coworkers. And if Takane truly thought that she could get into role after a bit of practice, she just had to put her trust in her. Even if she hadn't quite picked up on what play they were going to act in.
What'd she call it..? 'Midnight Requiem'..?
---
"This is a bit much..."
Makoto muttered as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was used to dressing in masculine outfits thanks to her upbringing, but a lot of them were a lot looser and more relaxed than what she now wore. Which could best be described as a regal vampire's attire, with every little piece adding up to make her look more and more ghastly. The last thing to compete the look would be a set of fake vampiric teeth, but she had managed to avoid getting those involved. At least for the time being.
She twirled around just to see how it'd look from every angle, and it only served to emphasize just how masculine she looked. Like this, with this coat and everything decorating her body, she could probably sweep somebody off her feet and they'd think she was some sort of vampire lord. At least she could still move around with ease, even if all of her outfit was extremely stuffy.
But at the same time, just looking at herself in the mirror... She swore that she was a bit more pale than usual. Was she getting sick, or had she applied makeup when she wasn't looking? How could she miss her own makeup? Both were valid questions that she probably needed an answer to.
Not that she'd get one, because she heard the sound of lights being turned on not far from where she stood. And when she turned to face those very same lights, her heart started to skip a beat. Because she saw what had happened to Takane, and...
Well, to call her beautiful would be an understatement. She was already a very pretty girl before she started to lean into her various roles on the stage. But this time, with that pale white makeup and that long and frilly black dress that served to emphasize the pale colors when they did make themselves visible... Even though she was essentially monochrome, she could still captivate the audience with ease.
"Behold." Takane said, her voice taking on a more dominant tint than usual as she stepped closer, her heel clicking against the ground as she spread out her arms and revealed her arm-length gloves and the thorns that were printed on the fabric. "Your queen has arrived. And your queen demands your attention. Even if you were to pass away, you are to always behold your queen and think of her."
Makoto blushed for a moment as the pale-skinned girl came closer. This was a bit beyond what she had expected. So much so that when Takane came way too close for comfort, that blush deepened as she tried to find a way to get away. "I-Is this what it's like to get that deep into character, Takane? Or are you just messing with me?" She muttered, her words having difficulty leaving her lips.
"Acting? What are you insinuating of your queen?" Takane spoke as she slowly brought one of those delicate gloves up to the boyish girl's chin. "Are you implying that treating you like this is merely an act? Are you trying to say that I would not act like this, should I be given the chance to divert from my course? Do you not realize what you are saying?"
A sweatdrop slowly poured down the side of Makoto's head. Should she try to fight back against the way that she spoke? Or should she go along with it? Both options had their own benefits and downsides. But... She did go along with this to the point of wearing this outfit, so she could at least try.
"Of course not, my queen." Makoto said, putting on a more masculine and assertive tone as she brought her arm across her chest and bowed before her pale-skinned queen. "I would never imply something like that. You are who you are, always shining down even brighter than the moon as it hangs in the night sky."
Takane smiled in response to the girl's words. Yes, they were splendid. She was falling into the role very naturally. So why did hearing those words make her heart tremble? Maybe she should drive her to go furtther. Maybe that would make this feeling calm down.
"You must be jesting, milord." The Midnight Queen, who Takane was trying to emulate with her acting, spoke as she let go of the lord's cheeks and turned towards the light above her, which was starting to turn blue to fit the mood of the scene they were practicing. "Yes, I may be the embodiment of this deep and dark night, but that does not mean I shine brighter than the moon. The moon is what we all serve. Even I, the Midnight Queen, am powerless before it." The melodrama rolled off her lips as she played up her own role, quietly looking over her shoulder to make sure that Makoto was following her lead.
"Would I jest in the presence of my queen?" Makoto, slipping further into the role of the Midnight Lord, spoke as she got back on her feet and gently placed her hand on the shoulder of her pale-faced queen. "I mean what I say with every fiber of this cursed form. You are the true source of the moonlight that blesses every single one of us denizens of the night. And without you, we would be little more than-"
As she spoke, her eyes widened and her body started to tremble. What was this sensation inside her? Why did she feel like thorns were growing inside her body, jamming their spikes into every little vulnerable part of her? She didn't understand it, but... The more this pain poured through her, the more her eyes and her emotions started to dim. Like she was becoming just as cold as her role. Not realizing that her skin was turning the same pale shade as her queen...
"Go on, milord." The Midnight Queen spoke as she turned to face her lord. All while showing the thorns that had started to spread across her face. Thorns that were draining the emotion and life from her face. There was something deeply wrong about what was happening to the two of them. And yet neither of them could fight back against it... "Speak. Or forever let those words poison your heart."
The Midnight Lord bit her lip for a moment. Not enough to draw blood, but just enough to let her emotions flow for a little bit longer. "Without you, we would be absolutely worthless. You are the one that we need, my queen. You are the single light that lets us spread across the night sky. Without you, we would be nothing more than thralls to the moon. Nothing more than its servants, just as we had been before you arrived."
Takane felt her heart trembling the more she heard Makoto speaking. No, it wasn't Makoto. Nor was she Takane. She was the Midnight Queen, and the one speaking towards her was the Midnight Lord. Those two names belonged to mortals that weren't part of this set of events. They were mere spectators. Her and her lord, however... They were real. And that reality was emphasized as the thorns that were piercing through her heart and her body started to wrap around her eyes, turning into deep black eyeshadow...
"Does that not make you my servants, just as much as you were the servants of the moon?" The Midnight Queen spoke, as she brought her hand onto the lord's cheek. Letting the thorns travel across her glove and onto the lord's face, as they too started to spread further and attack her body from the outside as well. She needed to get into the role. And these thorns represented the way the roles were binding them.
Makoto... The Midnight Lord's body had already been invaded by all of those thorns. So when they started to wrap around her eyes and produce the same spiky eyeshadow that just served to emphasize the emotion slowly being suppressed on her face, she didn't feel a thing. Because she had already become more than intimate with the pain that it brought her. She had already become one with all of it...
"It may. But you give us dignity. Because you are one of us, even if you shine with the same controlling brilliance of the moon. You deem us worthy of being in your grace, while the moon says nothing and deems us unworthy in the process. We live to serve, even if we do not want to admit that. And that is why we now serve you with all that we have, my queen." The Midnight Lord spoke, all while slowly took the queen's hand off her cheek and planted her lips right down against the back of that delicate hand...
What neither of the two girls had realized at this point was how badly they had gone off script. They were instead just acting out the roles of the two characters they were meant to play. And acting them out meant that they were becoming more and more like them in every aspect. Whether it was the natural subservience that was part of the Midnight Lord's core characterization, or the aloof nature of the Midnight Queen shining through, as she preferred to be just as detached as the moon itself...
The Midnight Queen averted her gaze as those deep black lips left a winged kiss mark on the back of her hand. She could not show her appreciation for her kind's love towards her. Because that very same love was being rejected by the thorns around her heart. "If you truly wish to prove this worth of yours, then you should give yourself to me. Only then will you prove your true and complete loyalty. You will cast it all aside. You will become little more than my thrall. Is that truly what you wish? Is that truly what will prove my rule different from that of the moon?" Though she did not plan on making any true use of the lord, should she choose to accept this agreement... She had to make sure that she would remain hers and hers alone. Because while she was aloof, she was also possessive.
"Anything. I would do anything for you, my queen. I would toss aside my pride. I would get down on my knees and beg for your forgiveness. Whatever you require me to do, whatever you deem necessary to be a loyal follower. I will do it without a moment's hesitation. That is how I plan to make my devotion shine forth. So if throwing my will and my individuality aside will satisfy you, then..." The Midnight Lord muttered as she slowly grabbed ahold of her collar, pulling it down and exposing her juicy pale neck. The perfect spot for somebody like her queen to feast. "Then I will not hesitate. Plunge your fangs into this flesh, and you will have me at your side at all times..."
Takane's eyes slowly but surely started to regain color as she looked at that supple neck. What was she doing, exactly? This was... The last thing she remembered before she started to delve into the role was putting on this black dress. Everything else was just an effect of her acting. So why was she... Why was that neck looking so tasty, and yet why did she not want to drink from it? Even if she was playing a vampire, she didn't...
The thorns around the Midnight Queen's heart started to squeeze down on her once more, and her eyes turned a deep shade of somber black. Yes, she understood. She understood exactly what would happen if she sank her fangs into that supple spot of skin. So she lowered her lips, bringing her head onto her lord's shoulder...
Before planting a kiss on that spot instead, leaving a black rose to bloom. A black rose that bloomed on the same spot on her neck as well, leading both of the two vampiric girls to tremble and let out moans. This was not only a sign of the bond that they just started to forge between them, but a sign of their roles becoming more and more impossible to remove. Locking away Takane within the depths of the Midnight Queen's mind...
"M-My queen..?" The Midnight Lord muttered, barely able to hear the faint voice of Makoto in the back of her head. She did not understand why she had kissed her instead of drinking her blood. She was willing to give herself over completely, and yet her queen had merely planted her lips on her neck and made their fates become intertwined. "Why..?"
The Midnight Queen smiled, as she carefully lifted up her fellow denizen of the night up by her chin. "Stand, Midnight Lord... No. Stand, my fellow Midnight Queen..." She muttered, as the thorns that had spread all throughout her fellow denizen started to intensify their effects.
The girl that had once been known as Makoto let out a mild moan as pain shot through her, turning her masculine outfit into little more than a copy of the dress that covered her queen. While they were almost identical, the difference in their hair was enough to make them stand out. Whether it was the new Queen's black and short hair, or the old queen's long white hair that complimented her black dress perfectly.
"My queen..." The former Midnight Lord spoke as she looked into those tender black eyes, all while noticing the black roses that had formed on the girl's cheeks. They were beautiful. Just as beautiful as the rest of her. "Is this your wish? Is this why you were trying to push me from that path of servitude..?"
"It is. I wish for you to be by my side. Not as a lord, nor as a servant. But as my fellow queen." The Midnight Queen spoke, letting her fingers become intertwined as she let her step closer than ever before. "And together... We will be the ones shining down our kin. Because they still need our guidance. Until they understand just what they need to do to rise up against the moon's light."
The former Midnight Lord nodded and rested her rose-adorned cheek against her queen's own, sighing as her heart throbbed ever so slightly against the thorns that held it. Their love... It was blooming, through the role that they shared.
Of course, neither Makoto nor Takane had realized just how far into the role of two gothic vampiric lovebirds they had fallen. Nor did they realize that if they were to remain in this role, they would likely turn others into goths just like them.
Right now, all that mattered was the two of them... And the pale love that poured between them...