@Nanya: at Vivio charging a Divine Buster for a carnival shooting game. I also love how in depth the story goes into fleshing out the Nakajima family dynamic.
EDIT: Page claim for . . . um . . . moar Signum. Ya, let's go with that.
Vivio smiled, today was a nice day. Her papa was busy helping Aunt Vita and Aunt Hayate with some important work. Her mamas were spending time together and Nove, Wendi, Dieci and Cinque were taking her to the carnival in town. She had been wanting to go for a few days now, but the chance had never came up. "Come on, Cinque!" She called out to the one who was going the slowest.
Smiling lightly, Cinque picked up her pace slightly, happy to spend the day with her majesty and her sisters. "It is a nice day." She sighed lightly. It was nice just to be out.
Though, neither she, nor her sisters, had any real idea what to do once they got inside the carnival.
Vivio smiled at Cinque happily. "Thanks for agreeing to take me to the carnival," she said, and looked to Nove, Wendi, and Dieci. "All of you."
"No problem." Wendi gently ruffled Vivio's hair. "It sounds like fun. It's too bad Subaru and Ginga couldn't come along."
"What were they doing again?"
"Ginga had work and Subaru was on a date with Teana."
Nove nodded, she was privately disappointed, but could understand.
When the group got inside, the cyborgs all had fairly wide eyes as they looked around, there was so much... Everywhere. "Uhh..." Dieci wasn't too used to being around so many people, it made her a little nervous. "What first?"
"Let's go on the roller coaster!" Vivio pointed at the thing, causing the rest of her group to shrug and follow her.
As they got closer and closer, and the sisters got a better look at it, Dieci cleared her throat nervously. "Er, Vivio..."
Vivio smiled at her. "Yes?"
"Just... what is a roller coaster?"
Vivio blinked and looked at the four of them, their faces blank as they didn't know. "You... Never been on one?"
They shook their heads. "We... Well, we don't get out too much..." Nove said as she looked at the thing.
"Father, Subaru and Ginga have been helping us re-adjust to society, but they're busy too..." Wendi rubbed the back of her head slightly.
"And the doctor never let us out like this." Cinque said, causing Vivio to frown lightly.
"Well then!" She put her hands on her hips and looked sternly at the group. "I have no choice... We're going to have to go on every ride and play every game we can!"
At that, the four seemed to pale slightly.
"All of them?" Cinque asked weakly.
Nove looked around nervously. The place didn't look too bad, even if some of the rides scared her.
Vivio nodded. "Yep! First thing first! The roller coaster!"
"Uh..." Wendi gulped slightly, but followed. She and her sisters were tough, if they fell out, they'd be okay. Worse came to worse they could just go to a mechanic and get fixed.
"Vivio..." Dieci blinked as the line moved forward.
"Yes?"
"Are the lines supposed to be this long?"
She nodded. "Uh huh. Lots of people wanna go on the ride. Nanoha-mama said that she prefers flying to the roller coaster."
Looking at it, Nove shook her head. "I can't imagine why..."
Vivio was eager to explain.
"Well, with roller coasters you have to be strapped in, and you only follow one path with a few loops and twists. Flying, you can do all of that as much as you want, wherever you go."
Wendi swallowed hard. "Nove?"
"Yes?"
Wendi latched onto Nove's arm. "I'm scared. Who would be more willing to save us, you think, Ginga or Subaru?"
The shorter redhead scratched her head in confusion. "Well, uh... I think Ginga might, just a little, since she helped us while we were in lock-down, but I think if we were about to get hurt, they both would try their best to help us. Why?"
Cinque blinked as they got closer. "You must be... What's with the sign?"
Vivio pouted, great, she and Cinque were too short to go on this ride. "It's to keep people from getting hurt."
Cinque blinked as Vivio explained that this ride might have been too dangerous for shorter people and that the size of the seat-belts designed to keep people strapped in conformed to a certain size and neither she nor Vivio were that tall. "Oh..." She said, slightly disappointed.
Vivio saw her disappointment and smiled. "Don't worry, though! Nove, Wendi, and Dieci are tall enough to go on, so they'll tell us all about it!"
Dieci took one look at the ride and whimpered.
"Wendi?" Nove squeaked.
"Yeah?"
"You might want to get ready to call Ginga and Subaru."
"Don't worry, miss, we'll make sure to strap you three in good and tight." The man, fairly muscular and burly smiled at the three as the roller coaster came to a stop. "It helps to yell as you're going down, throwing your hands up in the air also helps."
"Helps what?" Nove asked as she was strapped into the harness, her feet dangling on the ground slightly.
"Keeping your stomach steady, of course." The man smiled as more people got on. "First times, huh?" The three nodded at him. "Don't worry, you'll be just fine. As long as you don't suffer motion sickness."
"What's motion sickness?" Dieci asked just as the ride started up and they pulled out of the boarding deck.
Cinque stared at the carts for a moment, then lifted her eyes to the first big drop of the roller coaster. She felt her stomach roll just looking at it.
"... I wish all three of you the best of luck."
Vivio waved and smiled as the roller coaster started to take off. "I hope they have fun." She said as she waited on the ground for the three to get done with their ride.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" They could hear Wendi's scream as the ride took off.
Cinque shuddered as she watched a few loops that the ride went around. "...Vivio..."
"Yes?"
"Promise me that you'll never force me on that kind of ride."
"Uh... Okay." She shrugged, the Nakajimas were afraid of heights? Who knew? Then again, Nanoha-mama didn't like the roller coaster either, said that it made her tummy feel bad.
"I bet Nanoha loves roller coasters," Cinque mused as Wendi's screams were joined by Nove's and Dieci's.
Vivio shook her head.
"Actually, she hates them a lot, even before she got pregnant. But it's okay, because Fate-mama and Yuuno-papa take me on the smaller ones."
"Really?" Cinque blinked in surprise. "The Ace of the Sky hating a roller coaster?"
"Mama can't control it and she doesn't like not having control when she's in the air."
Cinque blinked, but nodded, that... Was actually pretty reasonable. "Oh, look... It... Nope, I thought it was done..."
"They go twice before ending it." Vivio smiled at her.
"...I bet they aren't too happy about that.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" They heard Nove's screams as the roller coaster continued.
"Er, Vivio..."
"Yeah?"
"Is it normal to scream like that?"
Vivio considered this for a moment before she replied. "Well, yeah, kind of. Sometimes you just scream when you're on a roller coaster because you're having fun."
Nove... didn't sound like she was having fun.
Neither did Dieci or Wendi, for that matter.
A little bit later, the ride stopped and the three walked out, twitching, their eyes wide and hair all over the place.
"Have fun?" Vivio asked, smiling brightly at them.
"That was the most horrific, terrifying and scary experience I had since living with Father..." Wendi muttered, before her eyes sparkled. "I wanna do it again!"
Nove twitched.
"Are you insane?"
"Actually..." Dieci was struggling to catch her breath. "Despite the overwhelming fear, it was... rather addictive."
Cinque shook her head. "Well, we have other rides to go on... What next, Vivio?"
"Hmm... Ooh! How about that one?" Vivio pointed to the area with the bowl-like shapes where people sat in them and they spun around and around.
Nove shrugged, couldn't be worse than what they just went through. "Sure."
As they walked towards that ride, Dieci blinked as she saw another ride. "Um... Bumper Cars?"
Vivio grinned. She always enjoyed explaining things.
"That's a ride where you drive around little cars and crash into people," she said. "You bounce right off them and get to do it again. It's lots of fun."
"Really?" Dieci blinked as she watched some of the people laughing while smashing into each other. "Wow... Looks fun."
Vivio grinned as Nove and Cinque both looked over there, getting interested, Wendi had already taken off in that direction. "Let's have fun!" She giggled as they all got into different bumper cars.
"Be careful." Cinque warned Vivio as the one-eyed girl's car got bumped by Dieci's. "Ooomph!" She narrowed her good eye and drove after Dieci, slamming into three other cars along the way.
Cinque quickly found herself loving bumper cars.
It didn't take long for the Numbers to fall in love with the concept of bumper cars. They'd spent plenty of time destroying things and crashing into stuff, but they'd never experienced a time when they could bounce back unaffected and do it again.
Wendi was a scary driver, though. Even within the confinements of the ride, she was insane.
When they got off, Vivio's eyes were swirly, her hair frazzled from the various crashes. "Dieci... No... No crashing Nove into me... Ugh..."
The sisters were chuckling and helping Vivio to stay on her feet.
"Where to next?" Dieci asked, spying the Ferris Wheel nearby. "That goes up high..." Not as high as Quattro had taken her those few times when she was playing nice, but still it did go up high.
"Wanna go?" Nove asked as Wendi went off in that direction.
Cinque shrugged as Vivio smoothed her hair out. "Shall we?"
Vivio nodded and giggled as Dieci walked with her and Cinque.
A few minutes later, the group found themselves at the Ferris Wheel, Nove and Wendi in one car, Cinque, Dieci and Vivio in another car.
Forever curious, Wendi pressed against the window as the Ferris Wheel lurched into motion, eyes glued to the scenary. She gasped with pleasure. "Nove! You've got to check this out!"
"What?" Curious, Nove leaned in.
The view of the park was changing; the higher the car went, the more they could see the park and whatever lay beyond it.
"Beautiful." Nove said softly before the cart jerked to a stop. "What the?"
"We're sorry, everyone, the Ferris Wheel is having a small malfunction, we apologize for any inconvenience experienced while we repair the ride."
Wendi blinked and looked around. "Wait, what? We're stuck here?"
Nove shrugged. "Ah... I guess..." She leaned back. "So, now what?"
"I guess we could... talk..."
"What about?"
"Uh... stuff?"
Nove blinked at Wendi, then sighed. "I guess so." She glanced out the window again. "Hey... is that a mage out by the water?"
"Where?" This time, Wendi was the one leaning in.
"There, see?" Nove pointed to the mage, they couldn't see any details, but there was definitely one there training some sort of abilities out there.
"Oh yeah." Wendi giggled as she watched the mage playing with the water. "Neat, huh?" She turned to Nove, who turned to her.
"Yeah..." Nove blinked as she realized just how close they were. "Ahh..." She jumped back, her face flushed.
Wendi looked at Nove, genuinely confused. "What's wrong?"
"N-nothing..."
Ever since walking in on Subaru and Teana, Nove had gotten a crash course on romantic relationships. Needless to say, it hadn't been good for her.
Before Wendi could ask, a gentle tapping on the window made them both scream and cling to each other.
Ginga smiled sheepishly from outside the car, wearing her Barrier Jacket; she waved in quiet greeting.
"Ah... Ginga!" Wendi said, breathing a sigh of relief. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, they thought it would take a long time to get the Ferris Wheel repaired, so I'm helping to get people out. You two are the only ones left."
Nove pouted as she heard that, had no one cared to get them out? Maybe she really didn't have anyone that cared about her, despite what Lindy said to her.
"Really?" Wendi blinked in confusion.
"Well, you two are at the very top." Ginga chuckled nervously. "Sorry if that came out wrong. Come on, I'll give you two a lift down." She offered her hands to her sisters.
Nove raised a brow.
"Are you sure you can handle both of us? It's a long drop down."
Nove hadn't expected Ginga to laugh, or for it to sound so warm and gentle; just like her moment with Wendi, it made her feel weird.
"I'm stronger than I look," Ginga promised. "I won't let either of you fall, I swear."
Taking their hands, she pulled them against her body, laughing softly as she rolled down her Wing Road. "Sorry that you two got stuck up at the top."
"Eh, it's okay." Wendi smirked. "There was a mage playing on the water, it was neat to see." So was the sloshing water and the way it moved around.
Ginga laughed quietly.
"That was me, Wendi. I had some free time, so I was practicing out over the ocean."
"Oh cool!" Wendi's eyes sparkled. "Wait, how'd you get here so fast?"
Ginga giggled. "Wing Road airlines, the only way to travel!"
Nove didn't say anything, she did notice that she felt rather safe at that moment. It didn't take long for the trio to get to the ground. "Ah... Thanks Ginga."
Ginga nodded slightly, with a quick smile, before trying to make a hasty exit; but Vivio saw her first. "Ginga!" she called, running over. "I didn't know you were called to help!"
"Did you bring down Nove and Wendi?" Cinque asked.
Ginga's eyes flickered to the pair briefly. "Yes, I was," she said.
Cinque laughed slightly. "Leave it to them to get stuck at the top."
"What about you?"
Cinque shrugged. "Was near the bottom, just got a ladder and climbed down."
"Lucky you." Nove grumbled softly.
Vivio smiled at Ginga. "Ne, Ginga... Can you stay and have fun with us?"
Nove and Wendi were both stunned to see tension seep into Ginga's body; her smile even became strained even as she dissolved her Barrier Jacket.
"Well, I'm off now. I have nothing better to do." She smiled. "If you don't mind having me tag along, that is."
"Is it just me, or is she acting weird?" Wendi whispered to Nove.
Nove shrugged, she wasn't sure. "Well, if something's wrong, we can figure out what's going on, don't you think so?"
Wendi nodded as the group went over to play various game. "So, what game first?"
Vivio tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"Well, before we went on the Ferris Wheel Dieci, Nove, and Wendi went on a roller coaster, than we played bumper cars..."
She grinned.
"Why not let Ginga pick?"
Ginga blinked.
"Well... If no one minds... How about we try some shooting games?"
Wendi giggled. "Odd choice," she said lightly. "You used shooting magic to try to keep Nove and Cinque and I at bay when we attacked you."
Ginga shrugged. "What can I say? Good memories."
"Sure." Vivio smiled as the group went over to play some games. Holding a gun, Vivio aimed at the target. "Divine..." She whispered.
"Stop!" Cinque grabbed her shoulder, after sensing the magic buildup. "No using magic for a game like this."
"Aww..." Vivio pouted.
Ginga laughed softly. "You haven't been taught shooting magic yet, have you?"
Vivio blinked.
"Well.. no, not yet."
"Then what were you thinking?" Cinque asked as Vivio giggled nervously.
"I... I couldn't help myself."
Cinque shook her head. "Maybe Nanoha and Raising Heart need a talking to?"
"Nanoha-mama didn't do anything wrong." Vivio pouted and went back to the game, and started shooting, this time without using any magic at all.
With the attention on Vivio, Ginga seemed to relax; at least until Wendi siddled up close and leaned against her casually, as she was prone to do.
"So, what prize do you think she'll win?" Wendi asked.
Ginga shrugged slightly uncomfortably as she looked at the prizes. "I'm not sure... Though maybe she'll win the large red wolf plushie."
Wendi giggled at that. "Maybe. I think she'll go for the ferret."
When Vivio was done shooting, she walked away with two prizes, the red wolf and ferret plushies. "Hee hee hee... This is so fun!"
"I think he just gave them to you because you and Cinque looked so cute standing together." Dieci said softly, getting a soft laugh from Cinque in response.
"So, where to next?" Wendi asked, still leaning against Ginga; either she didn't notice the other girl's discomfort, or she simply chose to ignore it. "We've been on a roller coaster, bumper cars, the Ferris Wheel..."
Cinque stopped and looked around, winking as she saw something interesting. "Hall of mirrors?"
Vivio giggled. "Fate-mama didn't like that one, one mirror made her look short and one mirror made me look tall."
Ginga laughed as she imagined a small Fate and a tall Vivio. "Hey, guess it wouldn't hurt to look."
At the mention of the hall of mirrors, Ginga smirked.
Nove blinked at her. "What's so funny?"
"When we were small, Mom and Dad brought Subaru and I into the house of mirrors for fun." Ginga chuckled at the memory. "Subaru didn't particular enjoy the kind of reflections she saw staring back at her."
"Oh?" Wendi blinked as she walked slightly behind and between Nove and Wendi. She was curious as to what her sister had seen then.
"Yeah, some of the things..." Ginga giggled. "She was pouting for weeks because one mirror made her look fat."
Nove frowned. "Really? I can't see something like that putting her down."
"Well, fat and short. It didn't help that most of the mirrors I walked by made me look tall and thin."
Wendi nodded, she could easily see how that could get a little girl down. "That had to suck." She muttered as they walked in.
"Oh, it's a maze in here, so be careful not to get lost." Ginga called out as Dieci, Cinque and Vivio took off into the place.
Nove shrugged and walked past a few mirrors, blinking. "Is my nose that big?" She stared, what the heck was going on?
Wendi blinked as she looked into another mirror. "I don't think my breasts are larger than my head."
Ginga laughed at them. "That's what the mirrors do."
Nove turned slightly and scowled. Was her butt really that small?
"What do you mean?" Wendi asked.
"It's all a trick of illusion. The mirrors are built a certain way so they reflect different things when you look at them. It distorts your original reflection and makes you look sillier than you really are," Ginga explained, snickering.
Hell, watching the two of them was hilarious.
"Easy for you to say." Nove said and pointed, causing Ginga to turn and look, blinking as it made her look wide.
Ginga started laughing. "Wow, I'm going to need bigger pants if this mirror was accurate."
"Nah, you look fine." Wendi smiled happily as she stood in front of another mirror. "Oh, wow, I'm short, but my hair is long." She laughed as the reflection made her look like someone had shrunk her down to Agito's size, but her hair stretched up forever.
Nove smirked. "Nice hair, Wendi."
"You're one to talk!"
Nove blinked and looked at her reflection; she was about as small as Agito, but her legs were so long that she looked like she was wobbling on stilts.
Ginga snickered.
The two looked at each other, nodded and pulled Ginga over, just to see what she would look like.
The three of them nearly fell over laughing as her reflection made her look like an orangutan.
(---)
Vivio smiled as she heard the laughter. "Sounds like they're having fun."
Dieci nodded, but she was still looking at the mirror she was in front of. "Is my butt really that big?"
"Yes." Cinque said as she looked at a mirror, it actually made her look like a supermodel, it was.. Quite interesting. "It's why you need belts in your pants all the time."
Vivio was still innocent, but... she couldn't help it if what the kid was saying implied something else.
"You sure?" Dieci asked, before laughing as she saw Vivio's reflection in the mirror. "Vivio, your head looks huge!"
Vivio turned and started giggling heavily as she saw it. "I am an alien, take me to your leaders." She droned in a zombie-like voice, getting a giggle from the two sisters.
Cinque stepped in front of another mirror and blushed heavily. "Do they use magic here or something?" The reflection that stared back was what she might have looked like if she was physically a few years older. She honestly could say that she looked rather beautiful.
Vivio blinked and walked in front of the same mirror, her eyes widened and she fell on her butt...
Her reflection as the Saint Kaiser was on the ground as well, staring back at her.
Dieci blinked and stood in front of the mirror, behind Vivio and Cinque. She blinked, her body looked a little fuller, her face a little older, but she didn't change much. "Um, wow..."
Cinque nodded as Vivio stood up. "...I'm still the shortest one." She said, pouting slightly.
Vivio giggled and hugged Cinque, which looked incredibly weird as her mirror image did the exact same thing. "Don't worry, Cinque, I love you anyway."
Cinque hugged her back with one hand. "Thanks." She said softly as the three left those mirrors and went to look at other mirrors, laughing as some made them look old and decrepit, one made Dieci look like a baby, another one made Vivio look as though she had scars on her face, and another one made Cinque look like she had warts.
"I swear that there has to be magic in these things." Cinque said softly, getting a nod from Vivio.
"Uh huh. Most of them are normal ones, but some have magic in them to give pre-set images in them, only changing because of what the person looks like." She giggled as the two looked at her. "Yuuno-papa explained it to me once."
"I... Guess?" Cinque blinked as she walked into an area, surrounded by mirrors, all of them were showing Nove off. "Nove?"
"What?" Nove called, somewhere deeper in the maze.
"... What the hell happened to your butt? Why are your arms so long, and why do you seem bald? How do you have such a fat body and such long legs?"
Ginga howled with laughter.
"Ginga! Not funny!" Nove yelled as she ran to the side, her image disappearing from the mirrors.
"Help! I look like a spider!" Dieci yelped as she stood in front of a mirror. "I got six arms! That shouldn't be possible!"
"Better than me." Vivio giggled. "It looks like I've got six eyes."
Cinque winked and looked around, stopping as she got in front of another mirror. "I've got huge hands and feet."
"I have six wings!" Wendi called from deeper inside the maze. "Ah, Nove, no tackling Ginga, you'll break one of the pretty mirrors..."
"Dammit, tell her to stop laughing, then!"
"It's not like I'm doing on purpose! The look on your face is priceless!"
"Maybe we should find them?" Dieci suggested, a slightly worried look on her face as Cinque snorted.
"Nah, let them have their fun." The eldest of the trio said as she pointed down another part of the maze. "Let's see what... I do NOT look like a one-eye monkey!"
Vivio laughed as she saw her image. "I look like a catgirl! Meow!" She "batted" her hands at the image, giggling as it looked like a yellow-furred catgirl was doing the same.
"...Why am I the raccoon-girl?" Dieci asked as she spun around a couple of times, getting a look at herself. Though that tail did actually show off her butt more, maybe she did have a big butt? She wasn't sure.
Cinque shrugged as she walked in front of another mirror. "...Now I'm invisible."
"Really?" Dieci scrambled into the sights of another mirror and froze.
"What's wrong?" Vivio asked as she looked at another mirror, giggling as she now looked like Arf's big sister.
Dicei frowned. "... I didn't know vampires sparkle."
Cinque gave her a weird look. "They really aren't supposed to," she mumbled.
"Maybe you should offer a vampire a cinnamon roll and see if they sparkle?" Vivio spoke up, getting a look from both of them. "Nanoha-mama said that cinnamon rolls can make a vampire sparkle."
"And how does she know that?" Dieci asked as she looked at another mirror. Green, she decided, was not her favorite color. After all, looking like some sort of green monster with bolts out of the neck was not pleasant.
"Nanoha-mama said Fate-mama dressed up as a vampire one Halloween and then Nanoha-mama offered Fate-mama some cinnamon rolls and Nanoha-mama said Fate-mama just sparkled brightly."
Dieci and Cinque blinked.
"Uh, Vivio, honey..." Cinque started, since Dieci looked fairly confused.
Vivio grinned innocently. "Yeah?"
"... Never mind, I'll let your papa explain it to you when you're older. Or Ginga."
"Why me?!" Ginga protested.
The three spun around as they saw Ginga, her hair and clothing all looking like they went through a tussle or two, Nove, who looked like she had slept in her clothes, and Wendi, who was readjusting her clothes, walked up to them.
"What happened to you?" Dieci blinked in confusion.
"Nove tackled Ginga and they crashed into me and I think I got a wedgie over that." Wendi said, grinning as Nove blushed hard.
"I said I was sorry." Nove pouted. "Can we get out of here, please?" She hadn't seen any good images of herself, though it looked like Cinque, Dieci and Vivio had fun.
Ginga smiled before grabbing Nove's shoulders and pushing her in front of one last mirror. "Here."
Nove blinked as she looked into the mirror, Ginga was smiling over her shoulder, but the image that came back was... "It... It's me..."
Ginga nodded, smiling more. "Yeah, this is the last mirror, if people feel bad, this mirror is completely normal, to let you see that you aren't horrible looking, fate, short, scarred, bald or any of those other things."
Nove stared wordlessly at her reflection for a moment before she sighed heavily, closing her eyes.
A minute later she whirled around and tackled Ginga in a tight embrace that put Subaru to shame.
"Ack! Nove, you... You okay?"
"Sorry... Sorry about getting upset at you." She said softly, causing Ginga to shake her head and hug Nove back.
"Hey, it's okay. Subaru didn't even stop to look at the last mirror, she ran out crying and it took us a few hours to make her see that she wasn't any of those things afterwords." Ginga smiled softly, while she hated embarrassing Subaru when her younger sister wasn't there, Nove did genuinely feel like she needed some reassurance right then and there. "And, I'm sorry for laughing at you, Nove."
"Aww! That's sweet!" Wendi grinned at them. "Now kiss and make up!" She laughed as Nove glared at her, getting to her feet quickly. "Ack! Nove, it was a joke!" The taller of the two yelled as she was chased out of the mirror maze.
Dieci blinked and looked at Cinque. "Why was Nove getting so upset?"
"I think she was a little embarrassed, that's all." Cinque said softly as the rest of the group left the mirror maze. "So, where next?"
Vivio looked down at the paper in her hand that listed the attractions.
"They have a haunted house..."
Dieci shrugged, it was getting rather late too. "Why not?"
"We should get Nove and Wendi for this, they'll be upset if they miss it." Ginga said as the small group went looking for the two redheads.
They found them next to a test of strength contest, various prizes around Nove's feet as Wendi hugged her, the shorter redhead's face turning nearly as red as her hair.
"I guess they made up." Cinque said softly.
Vivio frowned as she looked at the prizes. "Hey, where did my prizes go?"
Ginga chuckled. "Sorry, put them in a storage pocket, Vivio. I'll give them back to you when we leave."
"Okay!"
Ginga watched the red-haired pair return and made her decision swiftly.
"Uh, Vivio..."
"Yeah?"
"I think I'll skip out on the haunted house." She smiled sheepishly. "I was the one who ran out screaming when we went inside."
Vivio pouted, but nodded. "Okay."
"Huh? Ginga doesn't want to go in to a haunted house?" Wendi blinked, she liked the thought of trying to get scared, it was kind of neat.
Nove rubbed the back of her head, looking a little nervous herself. "Um... I don't think I'll go in either." When she saw the others look at her, she turned and blushed slightly. "Wendi gets grabby in the dark."
"Do not."
"Remember last month?"
"Hey, that was just an accident." Wendi pouted.
"You grabbed my chest."
"I thought I was grabbing your shoulders."
"From behind me." Nove said, giving her a flat look.
"Well, yeah," Wendi rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, "it was so sudden and my eyes didn't adjust to the sudden darkness. I heard you and.. Well..."
"Still grabbed me."
"It wasn't that bad."
Cinque rolled her eye. She recalled that, after the lights came back, somehow Wendi had Nove pinned on her back, holding her close. "If the side-show is done, shall we go in?"
Wendi pouted and turned to Nove. "You really won't come in?"
Nove shook her head and subtly inched behind Ginga, keeping some space between her and her sister; and Ginga would make an excellent body blocking post.
"I see what you're doing," Ginga mumbled.
"Just play along."
"Okay, well, we'll go in." Vivio grabbed Cinque's hand, then Dieci's, and led them inside.
Nove sighed as the small group disappeared into the building.
"So why didn't you want to go in?" Ginga asked, getting Nove to jump in surprise.
"Ah... That is... Um..." Nove cleared her throat before sighing. "Well, I still want to apologize over what I did in the mirror maze, I... Over-reacted, sorry."
Ginga shrugged.
"It's all right. I'm used to it. When we were kids, Subaru used to have reactions you wouldn't believe."
Nove blinked.
"... I can believe that, actually."
Ginga nodded and smiled. "Yeah. So I'm pretty used to it." She looked at Nove curiously. "But... you're afraid of the dark because Wendi groped you by accident?"
At that, Nove blushed. "Didn't feel like an accident," she muttered.
Ginga blinked at Nove as her face turned redder. "What do you mean?"
"If it was an accident, she would have let go... Instead of squeezing like she did."
Ginga shrugged and looked Nove over. "Well, you do have some nice breasts at least." She chuckled as Nove looked at her weirdly. "What?"
"Isn't that a little... Weird to say that?"
Ginga shrugged and smiled at Nove. "Nah, it's just a compliment after all."
Nove's blush deepened, if possible. "That's... a little forward...."
"The whole idea of complimenting people is being honest, right?" Ginga shrugged. "You have nice breasts. There's nothing wrong with it. I know women who would be jealous of you or want to be your lover."
Nove choked. "B-Because of my breasts?!" She couldn't imagine anyone who would want to be anywhere near intimate with her, just because she had some nice breasts didn't mean anything...
Did it?
Ginga laughed softly. "Well, that would be the first thing that would attract them, I think. Plus you've got a pretty face, especially when you aren't frowning."
"Ah..." Nove blushed and turned away. She pouted as Ginga laughed. "You were just teasing me then?"
Ginga blinked, seriously considering it.
"Well... No. Not completely, anyway. You are beautiful, Nove."
"You sure?" Nove asked, her shoulders slumping.
Ginga nodded and blinked as an idea came to her. "You know, we could head to a single's bar, I'll be that you could get any guy or girl to come up to you and ask to spend time with you."
Nove bit her lips and shook her head. "I... Uh... I don't think I'd like that too much." She honestly had no idea what to do if someone came up to her and asked her on a date or anything similar.
Ginga looked at her, before blinking as something clicked. "You've never been on a date before, have you?"
Nove squirmed.
"Wendi tried to set me up a few times, but it didn't feel right," she admitted. "It felt... really, really weird being out with someone I didn't know. I couldn't even relax."
Ginga blinked again. "Really?"
Nove nodded, lowering her eyes. "Yeah, really," she muttered. "Stupid, right? The whole idea of a date is to get to know someone..."
Ginga shrugged and scratched her head slightly. "Well, I hear that if you meet the person that you're meant to be with, you open up pretty easily to them." Not that she had ever met anyone like that... Yet. Then again, she had to admit, she wasn't trying too hard to look.
"Maybe..." Nove trailed off as she thought about her life, she really didn't have too many friends outside of her family. Maybe she should talk to Lindy again? Maybe the older woman would know some people that she could hang out with and expand her circle of friends, even if just slightly.
"That's what I hear. But, you know, there's no need to force yourself, right?" Ginga smiled and patted Nove's back softly.
Nove thought about it for a moment. She had a crazy, weird idea; she'd actually thought of asking Wendi once, but she thought Wendi would laugh.
"Hey, Ginga..."
"Yes?"
"Would you go out with me?"
Ginga tripped over nothing and fell to the ground with a crash.
"Wh...What?" She looked at her sister in shocked surprise.
Nove pressed her fingers together nervously. "Well, uh... I... If you don't think that we should, that's fine..." She turned away, her face.
"Wait, Nove, I... I was just surprised, that's all." Ginga got up and shook her head and dusted her clothes off lightly. "But, um, I wouldn't mind taking you out for a night on the town." Besides, Ginga honestly didn't mind the thought of going out with someone as pretty as Nove.
"W...Really?" Nove blinked as she turned around, surprised.
Ginga nodded and smiled. "Sure. It's been awhile since I went on a date."
"You wouldn't mind?"
"Well, no." Ginga shrugged. "Besides, maybe it would help if you went out with someone you knew. It might make you more comfortable."
Nove timidly returned Ginga's smile, feeling encouraged.
"So... what time, do you think? After they come outside?"
"Well, maybe." Ginga blinked as she recalled something. "Hey, when it gets pitch black out, we need to go over near the Ferris Wheel."
"Huh?" Nove blinked as Ginga's eyes sparkled. "Why?"
"The fireworks display!"
Nove blinked again. She wondered if she'd missed something. "Fireworks?"
"Yeah." Ginga looked at Nove curiously. "You've never seen fireworks before?"
"Not really... Agito did some once, but that was it..."
Ginga would have said something more but Dieci called out to them, Vivio in her arms, shivering. "Vivio? Are you okay?"
"Fate-mama was right! It was scary in there!" The little girl trembled and held onto Dieci tightly.
Wendi rubbed the back of her head, her hair looking frazzled beyond belief. "Yeah, it's a good thing you two didn't go in. Even Cinque..." She pointed to the twitching, one-eyed cyborg. "Well, even Cinque got scared by what we saw in there."
"Uh, Cinque?" Nove slowly rose and went over to her sister. "You all right?"
Cinque twitched. "No more," she said simply. "No more dark places, no more tunnels."
"Uh... okay..."
Still frazzled, Wendi turned to Ginga. "You knew this would happen, didn't you?"
Ginga shrugged.
Dieci sighed. "So, what were you two doing while we were in there?"
"Nothing much, talked, I asked Ginga out on a date, there's some fireworks pretty soon."
"Oh..." Dieci said, fireworks sounded pretty nice, maybe Vivio would stop trembling in her arms if she watched some fireworks for awhile.
"Wait, what?" Wendi's eyes widened as she looked back and forth between the two. "You two... Dating..? Like... Go out to the movies, eat dinner, come home and kiss kind of date?"
Ginga shrugged.
"Well, maybe not kiss, but yeah. Nove wants to feel more comfortable when she goes out with people, and she knows me. So she asked."
Wendi pouted at Nove. "What about me?"
"You'd laugh!"
"No I wouldn't." Wendi pouted some more.
Ginga chuckled and shook her head. "Well, Wendi, you do kind of rile her up, maybe she just wanted a date that wouldn't rile her up?"
Sure, she didn't mean it to be mean, but she never expected the look of hurt in Wendi's eyes from that.
Ginga felt her heart sink.
Ah, crap...
"Wendi." She stood, gesturing for the other to join her. "Come walk with me a minute."
Dieci blinked as Wendi and Ginga walked away. "What's wrong with Wendi?" She asked Cinque, who had recovered.
"I'm not sure... If I didn't know any better, I'd say... Nah, it can't be." Cinque shook her head. Wendi was acting a bit like Quattro had been when the Doctor ignored her. It's almost like she's jealous or something. Cinque thought to herself.
Nove, for her part... She was confused, heavily confused, why was Wendi acting like that? Why did Ginga act like she did something wrong? Why did she feel so weird?
(---)
Wendi looked at Ginga when they were far enough away. "What?"
Ginga hesitated a moment. For all her experience, she knew she was stepping into unfamiliar territory, and what if she had misunderstood the look in Wendi's eyes?
But she was so sure of what she'd seen...
"You and Nove have always been close, haven't you, Wendi?"
Wendi blinked and shrugged.
"Yeah. What about it?"
"And, well, you seemed a little upset that Nove didn't ask you out..."
Wendi went silent and looked away.
"Wendi?"
"I... I don't know... We've always done so much together, I... I just kind of kept expecting to keep doing everything together." She finished in a fairly soft voice.
Understanding hit Ginga then; Wendi and Nove were no different from how she and Subaru had been when they'd been younger.
She softened slightly. "Wendi."
"What?"
"I'm not trying to take Nove away from you."
Wendi's eyes widened as she looked at Ginga, who was smiling at her softly. "W...What?" She was confused slightly. What exactly did Ginga mean?
Ginga smiled and patted her on the shoulders. "Well..." The sky lit up at that moment as the fireworks started, startling both girls. "Darn it." Ginga sighed, she had been hoping to be a bit closer. "Wendi, I promise, it's just one date, okay? Nove's never really had a good one, has she?"
"Well, no..." Wendi bit her lip. She was feeling a bit worried though, she had heard what happened when people started to go on dates, they started spending more and more time with their dates and started to ignore their friends and... She blinked as Ginga hugged her. "Huh?"
"I promise, I'm not going to make her choose between us, okay?" Wendi felt her cheeks flushing slightly. "Come on, let's go watch the rest of the fireworks."
"Ah... Sure."
Wow, that was over 18 pages long! :O! Surprising!
Edit: Oh yeah, all credit of Vampires and sparkling goes to Satashi for inspiring that part.
Love the funhouse mirrors! Cinque may have to give back her eyepatch and longcoat for being scared of the roller coaster, though. That's going to cost her in badassery...
(Bonus points here for having the raised-as-sister getting sibling jealousy over the via-cloning-genetic-sister-but-raised-apart dating Nove! Lots of sistercest lately in the FFT...)
Love the funhouse mirrors! Cinque may have to give back her eyepatch and longcoat for being scared of the roller coaster, though. That's going to cost her in badassery...
(Bonus points here for having the raised-as-sister getting sibling jealousy over the via-cloning-genetic-sister-but-raised-apart dating Nove! Lots of sistercest lately in the FFT...)
She wasn't afraid of it, nervous for never doing it before, yes, scared, no... She wanted to go on and try it...
She was too short though.
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My fics Due to certain things, I am not here, find me over on TFF.
She wasn't afraid of it, nervous for never doing it before, yes, scared, no... She wanted to go on and try it...
She was too short though.
Oh, no, not before she went on, afterwards, while she and Vivio were watching the others. This part:
Quote:
Cinque shuddered as she watched a few loops that the ride went around. "...Vivio..."
"Yes?"
"Promise me that you'll never force me on that kind of ride."
Speaking of which, I forgot to mention how awesome Divine Buster Shooting Gallery was! (Or was it supposed to be Divine Shooter instead? To take out each target with a separate homing missile, since I don't think Vivio would want to destroy the stand...and the stand behind it...and the next row over...and the whirling teacup ride...and the park fence...and the... )
And vampires that sparkle at cinnamon rolls needs to become an official Nanoha thing. I should work it into a "Blood & Spirit" omake or something.
Oh, no, not before she went on, afterwards, while she and Vivio were watching the others.
Oh yeah! That part! Ha ha! Probably didn't help that Nove was screaming, ne?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DezoPenguin
Speaking of which, I forgot to mention how awesome Divine Buster Shooting Gallery was! (Or was it supposed to be Divine Shooter instead? To take out each target with a separate homing missile, since I don't think Vivio would want to destroy the stand...and the stand behind it...and the next row over...and the whirling teacup ride...and the park fence...and the... )
Ha ha ha! Actually, that was a shout-out to a non-H doujin where Nanoha and Fate as kids went to a carnival and Nanoha started an attack and Fate told her to stop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DezoPenguin
And vampires that sparkle at cinnamon rolls needs to become an official Nanoha thing. I should work it into a "Blood & Spirit" omake or something.
Yes, yes, I agree. Was just a joke thrown in for fun, but we decided to keep it.
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You say popular Rising Dragon but it's just me and Nanya isn't it
Maybe, but considering how much everyone liked WendixNove in the Jail romance crack... and seeing how its now being used as something serious in another fanfiction, rather than a gag pairing thought up for laughs...
Maybe, but considering how much everyone liked WendixNove in the Jail romance crack... and seeing how its now being used as something serious in another fanfiction, rather than a gag pairing thought up for laughs...
Who knows? It might actually be canon!
Depends on Wendi's reaction in the next chapter of ViVid, huh?
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My fics Due to certain things, I am not here, find me over on TFF.
2009-09-11, 23:03
at Vivio charging a Divine Buster for a carnival shooting game. I also love how in depth the story goes into fleshing out the Nakajima family dynamic.
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