Collaboration

A Re:CREATORS Fan Fiction

By Kraven Ergeist

Chapter 4

Meteora was not waiting for Sota at the studio the next day, as she typically was. Although his schedule as a student at the Toudai Art Institute was a busy one, he got the impression that Meteora did not have a lot on her calendar these days, and so was normally able to arrive for their appointments well in advance. It usually made him feel quite rude, making her wait all the time. But after ten minutes of their scheduled hour had passed, Sota began to worry he might have gotten the time wrong.

After checking and double checking his schedule and leaving half a dozen messages on her phone, he decided that the best thing to do was to just wait for Meteora to arrive. Not wanting to let the time go to waste, he continued doodling in his sketchbook, reviewing what he had accomplished the night before, having drafted up several iterations of the supporting cast of characters in their collaboration project.

As Meteora had pointed out, the main cast did in fact align to a Freudian trio, and it was a challenge to breathe originality into such tried and true concepts without straying too far from the mark. He had started with Roslyn, who Meteora had described as a valiant and headstrong knight, noble and devoted to fighting for justice. He had taken her words to imply that Roslyn was some kind of holy crusader, and had given her a suit of white armor inspired by the knights templar, complete with ornate crosses engraved across her breastplate, as well as everywhere else there was a surface to inscribe such things. The sterling white armor accentuated Roslyn's long red hair, tied back in some sketches, flowing freely in others.

He drew inspiration from Ezra Scarlet from Fairy Tail and Titania from the Fire Emblem series. In an effort not to base her too heavily on their friend Selesia, he had designed her a bit on the younger side to imply that she, like her fellow heroes, still had much to learn about the world. Despite this, one of his designs had featured Roslyn with a scar running across her nose, much like Tokiko from Buso Renkin or Iruka from Naruto, signifying that the lesson had been cemented into her early on in life that nothing was ever easy, and that the most worthwhile goals of all needed to be fought for. He also found himself giving the character a perpetually disdainful scowl in most of his designs. Meteora had not specified whether or not Roslyn would be a tsundere character, but the implication was there.

Sota had tackled the design of the main villainess next, still somewhat unsure of how to make an analog for his own stand-in without making him a self-insert character. Moreover, he was convinced that he could depict a character like Rien Nier as more than just a fan service character. Meteora had described her as representing the vapid, short-sightedness of humanity, and expressed this through her sexuality. But this could also be expressed more generally, by making her a more decadent character overall. Having looked up the meaning of her name, Sota had discovered that "rien nier" roughly translated from French into "nothing to deny," which to him indicated that Rien was a character who deprived herself of nothing.

Based on this, Sota determined that Rien was a character who lavished without a care in the world, lived in the moment, acted without any regard for the law of the land, and was powerful enough to get away with it. He gave her flowing, luxurious black hair, her design and facial expression drawn from the confident poise of Soul Eater's Medusa and Loki from Fire Emblem, and blending it with laid back and impatient attitude of Kukaku from Bleach. He put her in a kimono that cinched tightly around her waist and billowed plentifully about the chest area. Fortunately, there was plenty more reference material in popular anime for this type of character wearing Japanese style outfits than western outfits, ranging from Guilty Gear's Baiken to Naruto's Tsunade. He even gave her a long Japanese-style pipe to complete her lounging bathhouse look.

He'd decided to worry about drawing her dragon at a later time, he thought with an intimidated sigh.

Satisfied with the first two characters, Sota had finally turned his sights on Albert, who by far, he had the least amount to go on. Meteora had described him as a worldly pacifistic scholar, so the simplest idea was to put him in Christian monk's robes and a satchel of books and scrolls over his shoulder. It also made sense for him to be lithe and short of stature, being confined in much the same way Sota usually was to the indoors, his attention focused on his studies. But Sota had eventually realized that this didn't quite cover the "worldly" aspect of his character. By all notions, the idea of an intellectual character in a fantasy setting would have ruled out any possibility of that character being well-travelled, which meant the monk archetype was probably not the solution to lean towards.

Then the thought had come to him that, instead of depicting Albert as a western style monk, he could instead alter the design to appear more as that of a bard. Bards in fantasy genres were traditionally well-travelled, and were usually renowned storytellers, indicating that there was a potential that they might also be well-read. While many could also be depicted as thieves, Sota instead leaned more heavily into the artistic depiction, giving Albert an appearance more similar to that of a Renaissance artist, with long brown hair and a red beret and cape. After designing him sitting at a desk with quill and ink, he began to bear a resemblance to a romanticized version of William Shakespeare, the proverbial bard himself.

It made sense, Sota had thought as he sketched out the design. He would avoid making Albert into a cookie cutter anime protagonist, and instead break the mold by making him into more of a support type character. His bard didn't have to be a swindler or a charmer, nor did he have to be a nerdy shut-in. Albert could simply be versed in the arts, maybe raised from a well-to-do family, classically trained, and perhaps struck with a bit wanderlust. In a word, "worldly."

Now that he had been given the chance to sleep on his decision, Sota looked at his two renditions with trepidation. The monk character definitely bore more of a resemblance, with his friar's habit and brown bowl cut and wide, circular spectacles and overall nerdy appearance. The bard, on the other hand, reflected what Sota aspired to be – adventurous, intellectual, handsome, charming – and above all, creative. It occurred to Sota that his own desire to be a Creator was reflected in the nature of the character he had depicted of himself: a Renaissance artist, who travelled the world, studying stories from around the globe, and retelling them with his own unique spin. This might not have been the true identity of Sota's character, but if ever Camus were to have a love interest…

Sota paused and thought for a moment. Meteora had made no mention that Camus and Albert were to be romantically entangled. He thought that maybe it should go without saying – after all, his role in her story was that of a guide, showing her the ways of the world. The implication that the two of them might get involved would certainly come up – and knowing how fans usually operated, it could easily become a topic for discussion. And then there was unspoken fact that these three characters, Camus, Roslyn and Albert, were quite clearly based on Meteora, Selesia and himself. It would doubtlessly make things awkward if their characters suddenly got involved like that.

Sota shook his head. It was presumptuous of him to even imagine it would turn out like that. Meteora had specifically said that Camus had two guides, and for all he knew, Camus might very well end up falling for Roslyn. That, or Albert himself might fall for Roslyn. They might even fall into a love triangle. Who could say? It was Meteora's story, and she was specifically writing this from Camus' perspective. Would it make for a more compelling story for her character to become curious about her two companions? It was all ultimately up to Meteora herself.

Speaking of whom, where was Meteora anyway? Sota checked his phone and saw that half an hour had already passed. He tried calling her phone once again to no avail, and was about to get up to leave when he heard voice outside the door to the studio, before it was pushed open.

Thinking it was another student who had reserved the room for that time slot, proving his theory that he had simply gotten the time wrong for his own appointment, Sota shot to his feet, fully prepared to offer an apology. He was surprised, however, when he saw a familiar face greet his eyes.

"Marine?"

The chipper expression of the former illustrator for the Elemental Symphony of Vogelchevalier light novel was beaming directly at him, the demure and helpless face of Sota's collaboration partner standing behind her.

"Hey Sota!" Marine practically glowed. "So good to see you again! Hope you don't mind me dropping by! May I come in?"

"Marine?" Sota repeated as she pushed past him into the studio. "I…I guess so. What are you doing here?"

Marine wasn't even paying attention to Sota. Instead, she was gushing at all the fancy art tools around the studio she could find.

"Oooh, are these those new Copic markers?" she beamed, her eyes practically sparkling with delight. "And look at this Wacom tablet! Boy, college kids these days sure have access to a lot of neat stuff!"

Sota threw a quick glance towards Meteora, who was still waiting outside the door, and fixing him with an apologetic look.

"Sorry, Sota," she said, guiltily. "We met en-route to our appointment and became distracted. When I explained to her where I was headed, she insisted I bring her along."

Sota watched as Marine traipsed about the studio like a kid in a candy store, eying the hardware and touching everything.

"When Meteora told me that you two were working on a manga together, I just had to see for myself!" Marine said in a flighty voice as she inspected the digital printer. "I felt bad, because I know that studios can be expensive to rent and maintain, but if you can take advantage of student resources like this, then you two might be in better shape than I thought."

Marine adopted a melancholic expression.

"I wish I had these kinds of tools when I was in school!"

Sota scratched his head, shyly. He had already been somewhat hesitant about what his next meeting with Meteora would entail. Throwing Marine into the mix threw any mental preparations he had made out the window.

"But anyway, I'm really proud of you both!" Marine said, clasping her hands together, finally facing them once again. "Starting a big project like this takes a lot of courage! I wish you both all the best! I know you're going to do so well!"

Sota blushed, glancing back and forth between Marine and Meteora.

"Oh, um…thank you," he stammered.

Marine practically glowed as she beamed with excitement.

"So…if it's not too much to ask…" she said, her voice lilting as she tried and failed to sound coy about her interest, "Could I maybe, possibly see what you have so far?"

Sota drew in a breath. Marine was a trusted friend, one of the few people who he could count on during the Border World Coliseum incident. But still, as a fellow artist, Marine knew as well as he did that sharing one's work was one of the most sensitive and personal questions one could ask of another. Especially at this early stage in their development.

He threw a questioning glance at Meteora. It was her work as much as it was his. She simply nodded, a helpless look on her face.

"Show her, Sota," she said.

Sota drew in his breath as he steeled himself.

"Alright," he said.

He sat down at the drafting table, pulling his sketchbooks back out, flipping them to the pages he had just been working on.

"We've got four solid characters so far," he began, as he elaborated on their creation, as Meteora and Marine sat upon the stools across from him as he laid out his work. "We were thinking of a fantasy setting…"

Marine listened in rapt fascination as Sota described the beginnings of their creation to her, outlining the basic premise, and the archetypes that each character would fulfil. He was rewarded with an inspired look from Meteora when he withdrew the designs he had devised the night before of Roslyn and Rien Nier, and she drew the loose leaves of papers to her to study their designs more closely.

"For Roslyn, I was thinking of a holy crusader design, so I gave her armor to match," Sota summarized. "We hadn't decided on an age yet, but I was playing with the idea of making her a bit younger than the other two main characters."

Meteora nodded while Marine observed the two collaborators as they worked, an appraising look in her eyes.

"That could work," she remarked. "She would be mature for her age, but indoctrinated into an order like hers, she would be more set in her ways. Still, it makes sense that she would have as much to learn from Camus as she would to teach her. I also like the scar you've given her too – it will provide good fodder for devising her back story."

"I'm getting some tsundere vibes from her as well," Marine commented off-hand.

"It would fit her role in the story," Meteora allowed.

Sota nodded, before withdrawing his design for their antagonist.

"For Rien, I went with a luxurious bathhouse design," she said, swallowing a little as he watched the two women's reaction. "The way you described her, she seemed like a hedonistic sort of character with an appetite to match. I had someone in mind who regularly indulged in fine wines and delicacies, as well as…other things…"

Color rose to Sota's cheeks as he attempted to dance around the embarrassing subject matter. Meteora's face remained a mask of focus as she stared at the character design he had arrived at for Nier, while Marine's own face began to adopt a cheshire cat grin.

"My, my…" the older woman smiled wryly at the abundance of cleavage. "She's quite the looker, isn't she?"

Sota fought the urge to cover his face before Meteora came to his rescue.

"She's perfect," she stated simply. "This is just what I had in mind, Sota."

Sota's expression rose at her reaction. "You like it?"

Meteora nodded firmly. "I like them both. Rien is exactly the sort of villain I wanted her to look like, and the design for Roslyn gives me lots of ideas for where to take her character. I was somewhat unsure of how best to develop her story, being so unfamiliar with her archetype, but giving her room to grow like this is the perfect starting point."

Sota found himself beaming under the praise. He had been concerned that he was taking too many liberties with the designs, and was worried that Meteora would ask him to start all over again. That she seemed pleased with his work so far was high praise indeed. It was one thing to get positive criticism from strangers online. It was quite another to have pleased his collaboration partner. It gave him hope for their future prospects together, and…well, there was no denying that the delighted look on Meteora's face made his heart flutter just a little.

"Now we'll just need to figure out a design for Rien's dragon," Meteora commented.

The look of elation on Sota's face withered.

"Yeah, umm…I've never drawn a dragon before," he admitted. "I might need a bit of time to practice before I'm ready to tackle that design."

Meteora nodded, understandingly. "Take your time, Sota. This is a very good first step, and we are far from publishing anything at this time."

As the two of them spoke, Marine simply watched them, a look of approval on her face as she silently observed the two collaborators' dynamic.

"Hmmm…" she mused.

Meteora gave Sota's sketch pad an expectant look.

"What about Albert?" she inquired.

Sota's hesitant expression only deepened.

"That's where I'm running into a bit of a roadblock," he admitted, withdrawing the two designs he had landed on. "I came up with two distinct looks, and for the life of me, I can't decide which one best suits his character."

That captured both Meteora and Marine's interest as he laid the two sets of sketches on the table, the nerdy Christian monk on the right, and the roguish Renaissance bard on the left.

"At first, I thought I should go for a more realistic depiction, with Albert being more on the scholarly side," Sota explained, gesturing to the monk design. "But you mentioned that you wanted him to be more worldly, so I thought that maybe giving him the appearance of a Renaissance artist would be more fitting."

As the two ladies studied the two depictions, both had brows arched with interest.

"This one reminds me much more of you, Sota," Marine offers, gesturing to the monk idly

Sota scratched his head sheepishly.

"Yeah, I guess," he said, before gesturing to the bard. "This one is more of an idealized version of me, I guess."

Marine fixed him with an appraising look as she pondered his words. "Interesting…"

"I see," Meteora said, nodding skeptically as she stood up, having seemingly arrived at a decision. "Neither depiction seems to entirely capture the complete character I had imagined. As you cautioned, Sota, these both seem to rely rather heavily on their archetype. And neither of them quite stands out as much as your other designs."

Sota hung his head in defeat. Well, he thought to himself, you win some you lose some. His designs for the other two characters had passed the mark, but the design he had come up with for his own had fallen short. This collaboration process was going to be a great deal more challenging than he had considered.

"Why not combine the two?" Marine considered. "If they're both supposed to be a Sota-like character, then wouldn't he have aspects of both?"

Sota and Meteora stared at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Marine shrugged. "Well, one of these reflects the archetype that you most resemble, while the other reflects the archetype that you aspire to be. So, use that – make this Albert someone who comes from a place of isolated study, like the one you've depicted here…" she laid her hand over the monk "…but is trying to adopt the trappings of the persona you've outlined here," she touched her hand to the bard.

Sota considered for a moment, while Meteora watched him closely, a pensive look on her face. She said nothing as Sota wordlessly reached for his sketch pad, scribbling with a matte black pencil as ideas began to flow.

His brow furrowed in concentration as he sketched, the two women watching him in apprehensive silence. He seemed utterly engrossed in his work, not once lifting his eyes from his sketch pad as his hand flew across the paper, heedless of being observed in the heat of his craft.

By the time he was done, his hands were smeared with splotches of lead, his fingertips indented from clutching the pencil as he flipped his sketch book to present his creation.

The character on the page was an amalgamation, a nervous and curious young man with a clear thirst for knowledge. He was tall and lanky, wore the feathered beret of a renaissance artist, but carried enough books to compete with any scholar, their pages stuffed with bookmarks and other notes. His robes were that of a student out of Harry Potter, a satchel around his shoulder stuffed to the brim with scrolls and parcels, and a pair of round spectacles sat upon his nose.

He looked frazzled and unkempt, like he could barely keep up with the world, but the expression on his face spoke only of a longing to keep at it. His eyes held the knowledge of a hundred sleepless nights spent studying. He had the raiment of someone who had been exposed to just enough of the world to whet his appetite. And perhaps most importantly, like his two compatriots Roslyn and Camus, he had the appearance of one who had room to grow. There was a past there, but there was also an uncertain future, a design that evoked the imagination of the audience just enough to wonder what laid down his path. In every sense of the term, he appeared to be a much more fully fleshed out character.

"This is it," Meteora declared in a whisper as she stared, wide-eyed. "This is Albert. Sota, that's brilliant."

Sota took a long, steadying breath, his fingers sore from drawing so much.

"You…you really like it?" he asked, almost terrified.

"It's definitely an improvement," Marine nodded approvingly, looking over Meteora's shoulder. "He looks like a much more interesting character now. Someone much more layered and multi-dimensional, a young man of wide and varied interests. Just the sort of guy your female readers might like to take out for a coffee or something."

She blushed sheepishly a Sota's bewildered expression.

"Well, maybe just the intellectual ones," she allowed.

Meteora reached for the sketch pad to study the character more closely. "This is just how I imagined him. A student of many fields, but a master of none. Just experienced enough with the world to aid Camus on her journey, but still in the process of learning about it himself."

Meteora fixed Sota with a look of admiration and pride.

"Sota, he's perfect," she said with unabashed joy.

The young man let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"I'm so glad," he sighed.

Sota felt a wave of relief wash over him. Not only had he developed a character design that his collaboration partner approved of, but in a way, the fact that this was a character more or less modelled after himself, it gave him some clarity on his own position in life. He didn't belong in just one box, the way he'd been trying to depict the character. He was a being of many aspects, and shouldn't be afraid to branch out. He may never fully become the idealized bard that he imagined. But neither did he need to be the nerdy shut-in depicted by his monk archetype. He was allowed to be his own character, with as many different facets as he could imagine.

Marine and Meteora were still talking as Sota's thoughts drifted, finding himself scribbling in his sketchbook once again.

"Have you considered a medium yet?" Marine asked.

The way Meteora tilted her head was more adorable than Sota would ever admit, though he was attempting to keep his focus on his sketchpad.

"I was going to go with a print media," Meteora said to Marine. "Is that not the classic way that manga are distributed?"

Marine sighed, nodding.

"Well, yes," she said. "But even I have to admit that print media is an uphill battle. It's expensive to find a publisher, and sales have been dropping year by year. You can still get ahead in the print market, but it's a competitive field. Most artists sign on with a weekly publishing distributor, like Weekly Shounen Jump. And since your idea thus far doesn't really fall into the shounen genre, you'd have to find a publisher with an audience that suits your manga's needs – or more precisely, a publisher whose audience' needs are something to which your manga can specifically cater."

Meteora pursed her lips, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"What about Kikuchihara?" she asked. "She became a publisher upon her resignation from the SDF, did she not?"

Marine's eyes widened in delight. "That's a splendid idea! She and I have stayed in touch ever since the Border World Coliseum! I'll drop her a line! I'm sure she'd be able to help you guys out! She may not be able to sign you onto a publishing contract right away, but she should be able to give you a referral at the very least!"

Meteora gave the other woman a surprised look.

"You would reach out to her on our behalf?" she asked.

"Of course!" Marine exclaimed. "Oh, this is so exciting! I can't wait to see how you two do on your collaboration project! If I can be of any help, I'll gladly lend a hand!"

Meteora's face widened into a smile.

"Thank you, Marine," she smiled.

Sota had been sketching all the while the two ladies had been talking, and before long, his phone chimed with a notification alert.

"Oh, that's our time," he sat up abruptly. "We better get going before the next student needs this room."

Marine threw Sota a helpless look.

"I guess that's the drawback of using a University studio," she observed. "Limited time use."

Sota smiled. "I suppose so. But it'll suffice for now."

Marine pursed her lips. "Still, it'd be nice if you had a more full-time studio…"

Meteora glanced at Sota's sketchbook as he began packing his pencils and other supplies into his bag.

"What's this?" she asked.

Sota looked up and his cheeks colored slightly.

"Oh, just…thought I should draw our three main character together, now that I have a solid idea for all of them."

Meteora looked at what he'd been drawing, and felt her heart melt a little as she saw her three creations – their three creations – lined up side by side. Camus stood at the center, a look of curiosity and wonder in her eyes. To her left stood Roslyn, a determined look on her face as she stood tall and devout, and on her right stood Albert, trying feebly to keep his things in order. They stood in such a way that they appeared to already be friends, even though she hadn't even yet planned out how the characters would even meet in her story. Still, the image filled her with confidence that their creation would be a good one.

"This is a good start, Sota," she assured him, a fond look in her eyes. "I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can create together."

Sota's face was a flustered smile.

"Me too," he said, hurrying to gather the rest of his things. "Me too."

Meteora left Sota to finish packing as she exited the studio to find Marine waiting for her just outside the door.

"I'm really proud of you, Meteora," she said as the two of them began walking down the hallway to the exit of the art building. "A collaboration is a challenging endeavor, but you're already making such great strides. It really fills me with inspiration."

"Me too," Meteora agreed with a smile.

She liked spending time with Marine, she decided. The two of them didn't get a chance to fraternize very often, but now that she was in the midst of another creation, they had plenty to talk about.

"I see what you mean about Sota, though," Marine said conspiratorially, after they were some distance away from the studio. "He seems to hang on your every word."

"What do you mean?" Meteora asked, a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Marine sighed wistfully. "Well, all I can say is, if a guy drew me the way he drew you, especially in that one particular sketch, I'd be very curious as to how he really saw me."

Meteora felt her cheeks coloring. When she had run into Marine prior to her meeting with Sota, she had let slip some of her concerns from their previous conversation. She was beginning to question the wisdom of this decision.

"Sota and I are collaboration partners," Meteora declared. "We are friends."

"Oh, I'm sure you are," Marine nodded cheekily. "But I'd be curious if our dear friend Sota wouldn't be interested in something more."

Meteora felt herself grow speechless, her entire face becoming red as the full implications of Marine's words began to sink in.

Something…more?

As a Creation, Meteora had never been more than an NPC, a source of player information. After manifesting within the real world, she had been exposed to a world of possibility, where her free will could dictate any number of possible roads for her to follow. Interpersonal relationships had been at the focal point of many of these roads, but…if she was interpreting Marine correctly, then she was suggesting that Meteora might take a very bold step in her relationship with Sota. One she was not at all certain about.

Meteora seemed lost in her thoughts as the two of them exited the building and stepped out on the urban campus of the Toudai Art Institute, and Marine fixed her with a maternal look.

"Be careful, Meteora," she said in a cautioning tone. "Relationships can really screw up a collaboration project if you don't watch out. You two would make a really cute couple, but I'm sure you don't want that to get in the way of your creation either."

Meteora swallowed, a cold knot of fear forming in her stomach. She hadn't even considered what the possibility of a deeper relationship with Sota might mean for their collaboration, but given what she knew of the young man's emotional state particularly after what happened with Setsuna Shimazaki, then she knew that she must be cautious not to let him get hurt. Sota was still quite fragile in many ways, and if what she knew of human interactions held true for him, then she knew that it was well within her capacity to hurt him in a very similar capacity, even by accident. It was very unlikely that their collaboration project wouldn't suffer as a result, to say nothing of their lasting friendship in the long term.

She valued Sota so much as an individual. Was it worth jeopardizing the relationship she already had with him for the sake of exploring something deeper? The implications were simply too profound to consider.

Sensing her distress, Marine held her hands up defensively.

"Hey now, don't worry about it," she said hurriedly. "It's none of my business anyway. You just sounded like you wanted some advice. I'm sorry! I shouldn't have butted in."

Meteora looked up and shook her head.

"No, no," she assured the other woman. "Thank you, Marine. You've given me much to think on."

Marine smiled reassuringly.

"Trust your instincts, Meteora," she said. "Your wisdom saw us through in the Border World Colliseum. I'm sure you can handle things with Sota just fine."

Meteora nodded, still somewhat distracted. "Thank you."

Marine stretched as she glanced at the watch on her wrist.

"Well, I better get going," she announced. "I've got a portfolio of my own to work on. The life of a freelance drafting artist is never easy."

Meteora nodded. Marine had been without a fulltime job ever since the last publication of Vogelchevalier, but she was still in good spirits about it. She was a talented artist, Meteora knew. She would find work soon enough.

"Take care, Marine," she said in farewell. "Thank you for all your help today."

"Of course," Marine waved as she headed down the street towards the subway. "I'll let you know once I hear back from Kikuchihara!"

Meteora waved goodbye as she watched her friend take off, her mind more full of questions and uncertainty than it had at the beginning of the day. Their collaboration was proceeding smoothly, but there were so many obstacles yet to climb. Now that her creations had faces of their own, how would they act around one another? How will she progress their story? How were she and Sota to find publication? And how would the coming weeks and months change her relationship with her collaboration partner? Did she even want it to change?

Did he?

Puzzled and lost for answers, Meteora made her way home.

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Writer's block's a bitch.