So what was in a name, anyway? This was a question Sailor Deneb, the senshi of bubbles who, as a civilian, had formerly gone as Ilse Renier once upon a not so distant time had asked herself, some short time after her forcible corruption into the Negaverse. Although she had found an wallet containing an ID and some credit cards on her person after powering down, Deneb had found no recognition in the person she had once been just the other day as compared to now. Perhaps there was a better way to go about with obtaining a new identity, such as to inquire with a superior officer for ideas, but nothing in the Negaverse guide she had skimmed through suggested exactly that there was anything preventing her from coming up with her own name.
… By herself, and without anyone else's input, that was.
Of course, as the saying went, Rome wasn't built in a day, or something like that. Actually, she wasn't sure what the actual phrase was, but did it matter? In any case, great things took time, and a high-class lady that surely happened to be someone such as herself deserved an equally high-class name. She didn't know who this 'Ilse Renier' person was, but whatever the name she chose, it had to be something that topped that, something that let everyone know just the kind of person they were dealing with.
So she took her time. Did some research. Did some... digging around online? Well, it wasn't as if she was going to settle for just flipping through a book of baby names, now was she? Even without like, oh... almost 99% of her memories that weren't just her powered name and sphere? There were still things that called to her, such as...
Fandom...? Ah yes, she had to proceed with caution of course; a 'weeb' name did not exactly scream 'high class', but it wasn't as if she was aiming to name herself something immediately identifiable such as 'Erika Furudo' (which- where had she heard that name from again?) or 'Yachiyo Nanami' (she had gotten into magiareco lately, though it felt like it wasn't the first time she had made an account). No, she was going for something more subtle, something more... niche, that wasn't recognizable right away unless you were In The Know. Something obscure, but still believable as a name she would have been given by her parents, whoever they were- it wasn't as if she remembered anything about who they were or who she was, after all.
Here and there, in the course of her research, Deneb would find something that seemed like it would work, but didn't quite fit. Names that seemed classy, but didn't quite pass the 'vibe check', so to speak. But all hope was not lost, however, and in particular, there was... a certain fantasy band known for their story albums referred to as 'horizons', that drew Deneb's attention more than any other fandom, perhaps due to some connection to her previous life pre-corruption. A band whose stories seemed to draw inspiration from different periods of time all over the world, or were fantasy stories in general, but also had characters with names that didn't immediately draw suspicion as being weeb s**t. As she dug deeper into her research, two characters in particular caught her eye:
Roberia Maria Della Firenza
and
Michele Malebranche
Both were good names, and her research into the fandom and these specific characters had aspects to them that really vibed with Deneb. At the same time, she couldn't quite decide on which one suited her better, and combining the two would be quite the mouthful that not even Deneb would want to bother with. Opening up a blank notepad file, Deneb wrote down a couple of combinations that she felt suited her the best, repeating them aloud so as to try them on for size as well. 'Maria' as a first name seemed too plain, as did 'Michele', so what did that leave, then...? Leaning back in her seat to stretch her arms, Deneb took a momentary break before glancing back at the screen again, having made her decision.
Finally, after hours and hours of research, Deneb had settled on her new identity, the person that would be replacing, well... whoever she used to be. 'Roberia Malebranche' sounded deceptively high class enough, as well as divorced enough from the source to where those who weren't in the know would recognize that it was a name she had taken from a work of fiction. Yes, there was the potential issue with people trying to shorten 'Roberia' to 'Rob' or 'Robby', and she'd deal with that in due time, but for now...
This would do perfectly.
