[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by vic-vic

So, not only Nanoha have unpleasant expirience with Gadget Drones prior StrikerS.

It was actually finding out that the Gadgets appeared before StrikerS to attack Nanoha that gave me the idea to use them in Fealty ^^.

Originally Posted by Nanya01

@dc: that was good, sad, but good.

Thanks! I would have liked to continue it a bit further and go more into how Hayate felt about the whole thing, but I decided to cut it short before it got overly dramatic or sentimental .

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Um.... damn. I jolted like all heck when the Hound broke through Hayate's barrier and chomped down, yikes.

Definitely a very good piece, and it offers a good explaination of why we never see Zaffy in his human form in StrikerS, but I prefer to think that he favors his wolf form over his human form instead. Still, if we were ever told anything about what happened between the gap of A's and StrikerS, I could see this happening, or something similar to it.

I'm glad you jumped, I deliberately tried to time that moment off expectation .

And yeah, I didn't expect it to follow canon terribly well, but it was still a fun speculation exercise ^^. Hmm, for Zafira to favour his wolf form over his human one could make an interesting character piece..... *ponders idea*

And now, random short time! Very random. Very short. Yeah.

Spoiler for In A Name:

“Say, Miranda….”

Lutecia didn’t know how to ask this question. For all intents and purposes, the recently turned fifteen-year-old knew she had no reason to be nervous about what she wanted to ask. It wasn’t offensive to her partner (as far as she knew) and she meant no harm by asking.

She was still nervous, though.

“Yeah, Alphine?” Taking a healthy bite out of her burger, Miranda broke every rule of etiquette Lutecia knew by talking with her mouth full. Dangling from a silver chain around her wrist, the black stone sent out sharp, dark gleams of light every time a beam of sun hit it at just the right angle.

Lutecia took a deep breath.

“Um…. You know about the meaning behind your Device’s name, right?”

Blinking, the black-haired woman lowered her burger and lifted a brow before glancing at her wrist, surveying the stone. “Thanatos? Yeah, I know about it. It’s from Earth history. Greek stuff.”

“So, ah…. Did you choose that name?” Somehow, the younger girl couldn’t quite imagine her partner purposely naming her Device after a symbol personifying death, even if Miranda didn’t know the full history behind it.

Even before she thought it, though, Miranda was shaking her head. “No, I didn’t choose the name. My boy was named before I came to pick him up.” She shrugged and picked up a fry, shoving it into Lutecia’s mouth before she could ask. “All I was ever told was that the guy who made him had a love for Greek mythology and a… interesting sense of humor.”

Lutecia lifted a brow and hastily swallowed the fry, flicking small specks of salt off her lips. “You never thought about changing the name?” She didn’t know why this bothered her so much; for some reason, it just sent a small chill down her spine every time she thought about what the name of Miranda’s Device implied.

Miranda shrugged again, leaning back in her chair. “Why change the name when he’s already familiar with it? Besides….”

And here, she smiled.

“Maybe it’s a little twisted of me, but I like to think my boy’s name is a good luck charm of sorts.”

Spoiler for Author's Notes:

1. Those of you who read some of my previous shorts may notice that I changed the name of Miranda's Device; this is mainly because I plan at some point to tackle a short story featuring her, and she ended up getting some recons as a result when I realized some things didn't add up. Hence, Thanatos.

2. Funny story, I was actually inspired to use the name after I heard the musical piece from Neon Genesis Evangelion. I had no clue what it meant until I looked it up and read the history. Bad me!

3. Little bit of ironic humor in the end with Miranda's last line. In gist, she means that having a Device named after a god of death may be a good luck charm against death, but as everyone knows, it doesn't work out that way for her, sadly.

[/quote]

Damn, I never picked up the significance of her Device's name before @_@.

I have to say, other than the beginning (which felt like your style and that I liked very much), the rest of the piece doesn't feel to me like one of your better works . I always admire how you paint your characters with a really subtle, deft and original hand, but here it seems very plain and awkward, as if the characters are doing something to obviously show character instead of just simply revealing bits about themselves through subtle means.

The ending didn't quite leave a punch, although I do love the dramatic irony (since we readers know what happens to Miranda....)

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

That's exactly why he stays in wolf form. He finds it more comfortable. He uses his human form to train with the neighbourhood kids, though.

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Yeah, I remember that had been mentioned in one of the Sound Stages or something. Thanks for clearing that up, I couldn't remember where I'd heard it from.

Gah, this isn't the first time the dang Sound Stages derailed one of my fics .....and it probably won't be the last time either .

Originally Posted by Nanya01

You know, I'm beginning to wonder if I'll EVER get done with this drabble or if it'll turn into a very long one-shot.

Spoiler for More Changes:

Outside, Fate looked at her mother as she came out. "Mother, why does Grandmother never smile at me?"

Seeing her daughter look at her with hurt and confused eyes, Alicia knelt down next to Fate and hugged her. "Shhh... It's not your fault, Fate... Mother's just upset at me."

"Huh?" It was unthinkable, her mother was the nicest person ever!

Alicia smiled when Fate said those words to her, even if it wasn't completely true. "Mother's just upset that you were born and I had to raise you by myself."

Blinking in confusion, Fate hugged her mother tightly. "But, you have Linith helping you."

"I didn't always have Linith, Fate..." Alicia shook her head. "So, mother's just mad that I didn't have a partner to help me."

"Huh?" Fate didn't understand and Alicia giggled softly.

"It's okay, Fate, you'll understand when you get older." When Fate nodded against her, she pulled back and ruffled the hair on her daughter's head. "So, come on, the sooner we get those Jewel Seeds, the sooner mother will get better and the sooner she'll stop being such a cranky pants."

Seeing the silly look on her mother's face had Fate giggling as she nodded. "Alright."

It's kind of heartbreaking how Alicia is trying to shield Fate from Precia's hate by directing the blame onto herself...it's such a mother thing to do, try to preserve their child's innocence by convincing them that they're wonderful and that no one could possibly hate them. It's also kind of tragic since Alicia can't stand that Precia is so cruel to Fate, yet Alicia is doing all of this (and had created Fate in the first place) in order to save Precia's life...

Originally Posted by Moczo

Allow me to reiterate what's been said, since I can't think of anything unique: very good. Very exciting. And oh, my, sad...

Thanks! ^^ I'm surprised that the main reaction I got was sad! I guess, in a twisted way, I kind of viewed the ending as positive?