Location: Somewhere over the rainbow, in a house dropped on an ugly, old woman.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RadiantBeam
Actually, considering the date I'm surprised the FFT has been so quiet otherwise. I was expecting more pranks and crack.
I have to agree with you; I didn't think I'd be the only one to attempt something, heh.^^;; April Fool's is my favorite holiday, just because it's one of the last ones that's not heavily commercialized, haha!
"You mean to tell me that you had a daughter when you were only thirteen?"
"Twelve, actually." Nanoha corrected.
Momoko stiffened, blood drained from her face, while a whistle is heard in room. "And here I thought it was pretty strange for you to have disappeared during those two years." Kyouya entered the room, partaking the conversation he was eavesdroping until that moment.
"I knew you were a precocious child, but I didn't imagined that you were 'so' precocious." Miyuki perked from behind her brother before entering the room.
Shiro was about to say something else, but then decided against it. Instead he procceded to stroke his wife's back, since the woman seemed to have frozen in place.
"So, I introduce you, Vivio Takamachi." The little girl perked up at the mention of her name, and upon seeing her mother signaling for her to get closer, she complied and walked to her. "Introduce yourself, honey."
"Hmn. Vivio Takamachi. Six Years old." The little girl bowed to her grandparents. "Please take care of me."
Nanoha's two siblings looked at each other, then at their parents.
"Wait a minute..." Kyouya went to the calendar on his side and started laughing hard. "Good one, Nanoha. You almost had me." The calendar stated the date. April first. "Very good one."
====
April Fools.
I know it isn't as funny as Kaijo's piece(actually it isn't funny at all), but since today is still technically April Fools, I came up with this to honour the day.
Sorry if seems out of place to some, but this was supposed to be part of a omake chapter for Decisions, so... yeah.
I would ask to post comments on spoiler tags, but I'm not yet at that level.
"You mean to tell me that you had a daughter when you were only thirteen?"
"Twelve, actually." Nanoha corrected.
Momoko stiffened, blood drained from her face, while a whistle is heard in room. "And here I thought it was pretty strange for you to have disappeared during those two years." Kyouya entered the room, partaking the conversation he was eavesdroping until that moment.
"I knew you were a precocious child, but I didn't imagined that you were 'so' precocious." Miyuki perked from behind her brother before entering the room.
Shiro was about to say something else, but then decided against it. Instead he procceded to stroke his wife's back, since the woman seemed to have frozen in place.
"So, I introduce you, Takamachi Vivio." The little girl perked up at the mention of her name, and upon seeing her mother signaling for her to get closer, she complied and walked to her. "Introduce yourself, honey."
"Hmn. Takamachi Vivio. Six Years old." The little girl bowed to her grandparents. "Please take care of me."
Her two brothers looked at each other, then at their parents.
"Wait a minute..." Kyouya went to the calendar on his side and started laughing hard. "Good one, Nanoha. You almost had me." The calendar stated the date. April first. "Very good one."
====
April Fools.
I know it isn't as funny as Kaijo's piece(actually it isn't funny at all), but since today is still technically April Fools, I came up with this to honour the day.
Sorry if seems out of place to some, but this was supposed to be part of a omake chapter for Decisions, so... yeah.
I would ask to post comments on spoiler tags, but I'm not yet at that level.
Spoiler for Comments:
Considering this takes place in Decisions where Vivio really is Nanoha's daugther, it becomes more dark than funny
Well, 2 corrections to point out, one minor: for all intents and purposes, Vivio's name is "Vivio Takamachi" since Mid goes first-last name.
The second is "Her two brothers looked at each other" Two brothers? Whose? I assume you mean Nanoha's siblings.
"You mean to tell me that you had a daughter when you were only thirteen?"
"Twelve, actually." Nanoha corrected.
Momoko stiffened, blood drained from her face, while a whistle is heard in room. "And here I thought it was pretty strange for you to have disappeared during those two years." Kyouya entered the room, partaking the conversation he was eavesdroping until that moment.
"I knew you were a precocious child, but I didn't imagined that you were 'so' precocious." Miyuki perked from behind her brother before entering the room.
Shiro was about to say something else, but then decided against it. Instead he procceded to stroke his wife's back, since the woman seemed to have frozen in place.
"So, I introduce you, Vivio Takamachi." The little girl perked up at the mention of her name, and upon seeing her mother signaling for her to get closer, she complied and walked to her. "Introduce yourself, honey."
"Hmn. Vivio Takamachi. Six Years old." The little girl bowed to her grandparents. "Please take care of me."
Nanoha's two siblings looked at each other, then at their parents.
"Wait a minute..." Kyouya went to the calendar on his side and started laughing hard. "Good one, Nanoha. You almost had me." The calendar stated the date. April first. "Very good one."
====
April Fools.
I know it isn't as funny as Kaijo's piece(actually it isn't funny at all), but since today is still technically April Fools, I came up with this to honour the day.
Sorry if seems out of place to some, but this was supposed to be part of a omake chapter for Decisions, so... yeah.
I would ask to post comments on spoiler tags, but I'm not yet at that level.
Spoiler for Comment:
A bit of a Fridge Horror moment there at the end... Since in Decisions... yeah...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaijo
More new people, welcome!
Well, in an effort to jump start my writing, I worked out this one piece. Not sure how well it works, and warning that it's a bit angsty and sad.
Spoiler for Passing:
Passing
Grey clouds hung in the air, threatening to release their stored precipitation on the small crowd below. But for whatever reason, they decided hold back, as if they, too, were paying their respects as part of the solemn ceremony currently in progress.
"Thanks for organizing all this, Fate-chan," Nanoha said, wiping her eyes. "It means a lot to Vivio."
"It was no problem," Fate replied, studying the other woman, then sighing and hugging her. "But don't hold back; I know he meant a lot to you, too. It's okay; we all loved him"
"Oh Fate-chan..." Nanoha managed to get out, her voice cracking, a few tears leaking out. "He wasn't with us long enough... and holding his small, furry body always made me happy..."
Fate patted the other woman's back. "There, there."
"S-sorry, I promised myself I wouldn't break down like this," Nanoha said, pulling back a bit as her own daughter was crying and clutching at Nanoha's black dress; she had to be the strong one right now.
The little girl could barely speak through her crying. "M-mama.... h-he- was..."
Nanoha crouched down to hug her daughter. "It's okay, dear, we all felt the same."
"I m-miss Yu-Yu..." she started to say, then broke down again.
"We all do," her mother replied softly.
On the other side of the grave, Vita sighed and shifted uncomfortably in her small black dress. "I don't see why we have to go through all this. I mean, sure I miss him, too, but..."
Hayate reached over and hugged the girl, nearly suffocating her against her stomach, sniffling. "We know how you feel, too, Vita, it's okay. I didn't know him as well as I'd like, but you had more contact with him. So if I feel sad because-" she paused, her voice cracking a bit, "-because I didn't know him enough, didn't make time to get to know better, I..."
She broke down, burying her face in Vita's hair, while the little girl managed to find a way to breathe and hug her in response.
Signum placed a hand on Hayate's shoulder, noting the little Takamachi girl and Nanoha crying across the way, and sighed. "He will be missed. Life must be treasured while we are alive."
Shamal wiped her eyes with a tissue, but twin trails of wetness continued down her cheeks. "If only there was something I could have done... all my medical knowledge, and I couldn't save him."
"I know you did everything you could," Hayate said through tears, releasing Vita and turning to hug Shamal; the two women cried together.
"We are gathered here to remember someone special," Lindy announced gesturing toward the casket with her gaze, which began to lower. "He wasn't with as long as we'd like, but he was near and dear to us. He didn't seem to do much on the surface, but his subtle actions affected all of us. And so, we commit his body to the ground, then his spirit may join with the ethereal mana all around us, and thus live forever in our hearts."
Vivio suddenly broke from Nanoha and clutched at the casket. "NO! I don't want him to go!"
Nanoha and Fate were suddenly there, gently pulling her away and hugging her.
"It's okay, Vivio," Fate offered. "It was his time."
"I... loved him a lot, too, dear," Nanoha soothed. "But we'll stop by the pet store tomorrow to pick you up another ferret for a pet."
"I don't want another ferret!" Vivio cried. "I want my Yusho back!"
Yuuno sighed. He missed the Takamachi pet ferret, too; he almost felt some kinship to it, and was honored when Vivio named her after him.
Author's notes:
April Fools! =D
Oh, if you reply, use spoiler tags please.^^
Spoiler for On Vita's bunny:
At the part where Hayate, Vita and Shamal were talking, I suddenly had the strangest idea that it was Vita's bunny who died. I think it was the part where Hayate went 'but you had more contact with him'... My brain is turning into yoghurt...
Also, I realise that I'm in a strange time zone, so the thread grows exponentially when I'm sleeping! -is sad-
I giggled. Does that mean she turned Kyouya on the wedding night?
Nope. Just married-to-someone-supernatural. Actually, I suspect that Shinobu can't "turn" anyone, since the Tsukimuras seem to be "vampire species" instead of "the walking undead."
Quote:
Originally Posted by deathcurse
Something general that I've noticed though, about multi-chapter fics--most people seem to begin their fics with a prologue of some sort that doesn't involve any of the main cast. The prologues seem to focus on the villains, or some minor character who gets killed off pretty quick ....has anyone else noticed this trend?
It's actually a very common trend in original fiction as well, particularly the mystery/thriller genre (it's basically mandatory in espionage/suspense thrillers). Beginning a story with a prologue allows for some scene-setting, some foreshadowing, a chance to show the villainous side being extremely successful and/or evil without having to have a "good guy" character be the victim, and to plunge in with a (hopefully) exciting/dramatic scene of action, tension, and/or violence. Then the first actual chapter can introduce the protagonist, usually in a more "relaxed" setting that can focus on the character and build plot for a while.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 00-Raiser
Spoiler for Comments:
Well, 2 corrections to point out, one minor: for all intents and purposes, Vivio's name is "Vivio Takamachi" since Mid goes first-last name.
Spoiler for A correction to one of the comments:
Actually...
That's not the case. It's officially "Takamachi Vivio"--as the booklet that came with SSX shows (and presumably the raws of ViVid, but I haven't seen those).
You'll notice that this is a contrast to, for example, "Subaru Nakajima." I suspect it's because Vivio is being adopted into an actual Japanese family--the "Takamachi" is written in kanji, and if Nanoha ever moved back to Earth I'm sure that they'd arrange for Vivio to be entered into the family register (heck, they might have done so already). On the other hand, the Nakajimas are treated as if they were foreigners of Japanese descent--like a Japanese-American's name, their family name is written in katakana, not kanji, and they use foreign word order.
That's not the case. It's officially "Takamachi Vivio"--as the booklet that came with SSX shows (and presumably the raws of ViVid, but I haven't seen those).
You'll notice that this is a contrast to, for example, "Subaru Nakajima." I suspect it's because Vivio is being adopted into an actual Japanese family--the "Takamachi" is written in kanji, and if Nanoha ever moved back to Earth I'm sure that they'd arrange for Vivio to be entered into the family register (heck, they might have done so already). On the other hand, the Nakajimas are treated as if they were foreigners of Japanese descent--like a Japanese-American's name, their family name is written in katakana, not kanji, and they use foreign word order.
I stand corrected. Guess I'm too used to refering to all characters by first-last name.
"You mean to tell me that you had a daughter when you were only thirteen?"
"Twelve, actually." Nanoha corrected.
Momoko stiffened, blood drained from her face, while a whistle is heard in room. "And here I thought it was pretty strange for you to have disappeared during those two years." Kyouya entered the room, partaking the conversation he was eavesdroping until that moment.
"I knew you were a precocious child, but I didn't imagined that you were 'so' precocious." Miyuki perked from behind her brother before entering the room.
Shiro was about to say something else, but then decided against it. Instead he procceded to stroke his wife's back, since the woman seemed to have frozen in place.
"So, I introduce you, Vivio Takamachi." The little girl perked up at the mention of her name, and upon seeing her mother signaling for her to get closer, she complied and walked to her. "Introduce yourself, honey."
"Hmn. Vivio Takamachi. Six Years old." The little girl bowed to her grandparents. "Please take care of me."
Nanoha's two siblings looked at each other, then at their parents.
"Wait a minute..." Kyouya went to the calendar on his side and started laughing hard. "Good one, Nanoha. You almost had me." The calendar stated the date. April first. "Very good one."
====
April Fools.
I know it isn't as funny as Kaijo's piece(actually it isn't funny at all), but since today is still technically April Fools, I came up with this to honour the day.
Sorry if seems out of place to some, but this was supposed to be part of a omake chapter for Decisions, so... yeah.
I would ask to post comments on spoiler tags, but I'm not yet at that level.
Spoiler for Comments:
Ha ha! That was great! I wonder if Japan celebrates April 1st anyway.
__________________
My fics Due to certain things, I am not here, find me over on TFF.
Location: Pennsylvania. It's sort of like a real state.
Age: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy C
Welcome aboard Moczo. I hope you remember me from all those comments I left on Infinity. I never mentioned it before, but I was most impressed with your promptness in dealing with issues I raised regarding your fic. It's a good attitude compared to those who prefer wasting pages of text to defend their writing rather admit they slipped up.
This is the best place to find background info on Nanoha. Even if it isn't here, someone here can point you to it.
Remember you? I fear you. When I see 'Jimmy C.' in the new reviews, I know that I have done something wrong, and all I can do is fearfully hope that it's something small that I can actually go back and fix...
(Seriously though, thanks for that. I need to know my mistakes so I can fix them or at least not make them again.)
And speaking of Infinity, the next chapter is up. Exposition ahoy!
Remember you? I fear you. When I see 'Jimmy C.' in the new reviews, I know that I have done something wrong, and all I can do is fearfully hope that it's something small that I can actually go back and fix...
(Seriously though, thanks for that. I need to know my mistakes so I can fix them or at least not make them again.)
And speaking of Infinity, the next chapter is up. Exposition ahoy!
Was in a mood, and wrote this while listening to "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds To Mars. It made sense in my head, at least.
Spoiler for The Kings and Queens of Promise:
For several days after the JS incident, Fate avoids Caro and Erio.
She means no harm by it; not really. They stood up for her when she needed it most, they spoke the words she wanted so badly to hear, and she loves them for it. But the guilt, the shame over what could have been, makes it almost impossible for her to look them in the eye.
What could have been, if she’d given in, if she’d listened to Jail and believed him, believed even for a moment that she was and could be—
She is no longer a child, but the memory is still fresh; the flash of eyes, the long dark mane of hair, the whip in hand. It sends a chill through her heart and freezes her bones to ice.
She slams her locker door with more violence than necessary.
Amazingly and unexpectedly, Caro handles Fate’s abandonment much better than anyone ever expected. She focuses on her life, on the day to day things. She trains with Fried whenever she has the opportunity and sometimes even when she doesn’t, putting all of her time and energy into it.
She helps out, busies herself with the chores; cleaning, running errands, doing every little thing she can think of, every little thing possible, so the pain won’t sink in, so it won’t hurt, she won’t have a chance to think about it, to let it linger in her mind.
She can’t stay in her tribe, in the one place she has always lived. She listens as they speak, as they tell her she must leave, and she hugs Fried tightly to her chest, making the little dragon squeak. She bites her tongue hard enough to draw blood and does her best not to cry, to be strong and not to cry….
The plate slips from her hand and shatters once it hits the ground; with a choked gasp Caro braces against the counter as she feels the warm wetness streak her cheeks, and she squeezes her eyes tight to try and block out the pain.
Erio locks the feeling deep inside and trains with Strada. He trains every day, often deep into the night, long, painful hours and only stopping just before sunrise, when he drags himself to bed and collapses to sleep for a few black, dreamless hours. He helps Caro when he can (or when she wants it), but largely he is left alone.
Like Caro, though, he finds ways to keep busy. He trains alone with Strada, or spars with Subaru, Teana, Signum, Zafira. He helps Nanoha with Vivio and listens to her battle advice, and continues pushing himself to his limits. It hurts, it always hurts, but somehow the sweat and the physical ache is better than the mental pain, better than thinking about what it means that Fate no longer talks to them, can’t even look at them, because if he thinks about it he knows it will be worse, so much worse, ten times worse.
He’s being taken away and he’s not strong enough, he’s still too small to do anything. He sees the fight go out of his parents as he leans the truth, as they admit that he isn’t their son, not really; he is only a copy of the boy they lost, he isn’t really their son, he isn’t really…
The boy curses sharply at the fierce surge of pain that rips up his arm from a movement made too hard and fast, and he skids to a stop in his training, panting and trembling, gripping his shoulder tightly.
If his eyes are blurry, he says it’s just sweat that’s gotten into his eyes.
Signum’s voice isn’t judging, isn’t asking questions that Fate doesn’t know how to answer; the pink-haired woman leans quietly against the doorframe and simply watches the blonde as she works through her files, not even looking up at her. “I’m not hiding,” she says softly. “I’m just giving them space.”
From the silence, she knows Signum isn’t impressed by her answer; she doesn’t need to know that it sounds lame and weak. She continues working.
Finally, the warrior sighs. “Just for the record, Caro’s been crying. Erio’s burning himself out.” With that, she closes the door behind her with a soft click as she leaves Fate alone.
In the silence, all Fate hears is the soft scratching of her pen, and even Signum’s footsteps eventually fade away into nothingness, leaving her alone.
She finds them in the training arena. Caro is tending to Erio as he staggers shakily to his feet, wiping at his face lightly with a hand. Erio is battered and looks tired; Caro’s eyes are dark. Somehow, it breaks Fate’s heart.
They hear her, sense her, before they even see her; they both stiffen, hesitate, before they slowly turn to look at her. Erio blows out a long, painful breath, and Caro blinks, wiping at her eyes furiously.
Fate feels her heart shatter.
She moves without realizing it, crosses the distance between them with no memory of moving at all; kneeling down, she tugs a tissue from her back pocket, gently rubbing Erio’s face and cleaning off the dirt and sweat, her touch as soft as possible. When that tissue is used up, she carelessly stuffs it back into her pocket and finds another one, turning to Caro now, ignoring the tears spilling from the girl’s eyes as she brushes them away.
The second tissue is soon wet, and even then that drifts to the ground as Fate suddenly finds her arms full of two crying, shaking children. And somehow she doesn’t even notice it as she clings to them as tightly as they cling to her, crying with them, and “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow, in a house dropped on an ugly, old woman.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RadiantBeam
Was in a mood, and wrote this while listening to "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds To Mars. It made sense in my head, at least.
Spoiler for The Kings and Queens of Promise:
For several days after the JS incident, Fate avoids Caro and Erio.
She means no harm by it; not really. They stood up for her when she needed it most, they spoke the words she wanted so badly to hear, and she loves them for it. But the guilt, the shame over what could have been, makes it almost impossible for her to look them in the eye.
What could have been, if she’d given in, if she’d listened to Jail and believed him, believed even for a moment that she was and could be—
She is no longer a child, but the memory is still fresh; the flash of eyes, the long dark mane of hair, the whip in hand. It sends a chill through her heart and freezes her bones to ice.
She slams her locker door with more violence than necessary.
Amazingly and unexpectedly, Caro handles Fate’s abandonment much better than anyone ever expected. She focuses on her life, on the day to day things. She trains with Fried whenever she has the opportunity and sometimes even when she doesn’t, putting all of her time and energy into it.
She helps out, busies herself with the chores; cleaning, running errands, doing every little thing she can think of, every little thing possible, so the pain won’t sink in, so it won’t hurt, she won’t have a chance to think about it, to let it linger in her mind.
She can’t stay in her tribe, in the one place she has always lived. She listens as they speak, as they tell her she must leave, and she hugs Fried tightly to her chest, making the little dragon squeak. She bites her tongue hard enough to draw blood and does her best not to cry, to be strong and not to cry….
The plate slips from her hand and shatters once it hits the ground; with a choked gasp Caro braces against the counter as she feels the warm wetness streak her cheeks, and she squeezes her eyes tight to try and block out the pain.
Erio locks the feeling deep inside and trains with Strada. He trains every day, often deep into the night, long, painful hours and only stopping just before sunrise, when he drags himself to bed and collapses to sleep for a few black, dreamless hours. He helps Caro when he can (or when she wants it), but largely he is left alone.
Like Caro, though, he finds ways to keep busy. He trains alone with Strada, or spars with Subaru, Teana, Signum, Zafira. He helps Nanoha with Vivio and listens to her battle advice, and continues pushing himself to his limits. It hurts, it always hurts, but somehow the sweat and the physical ache is better than the mental pain, better than thinking about what it means that Fate no longer talks to them, can’t even look at them, because if he thinks about it he knows it will be worse, so much worse, ten times worse.
He’s being taken away and he’s not strong enough, he’s still too small to do anything. He sees the fight go out of his parents as he leans the truth, as they admit that he isn’t their son, not really; he is only a copy of the boy they lost, he isn’t really their son, he isn’t really…
The boy curses sharply at the fierce surge of pain that rips up his arm from a movement made too hard and fast, and he skids to a stop in his training, panting and trembling, gripping his shoulder tightly.
If his eyes are blurry, he says it’s just sweat that’s gotten into his eyes.
Signum’s voice isn’t judging, isn’t asking questions that Fate doesn’t know how to answer; the pink-haired woman leans quietly against the doorframe and simply watches the blonde as she works through her files, not even looking up at her. “I’m not hiding,” she says softly. “I’m just giving them space.”
From the silence, she knows Signum isn’t impressed by her answer; she doesn’t need to know that it sounds lame and weak. She continues working.
Finally, the warrior sighs. “Just for the record, Caro’s been crying. Erio’s burning himself out.” With that, she closes the door behind her with a soft click as she leaves Fate alone.
In the silence, all Fate hears is the soft scratching of her pen, and even Signum’s footsteps eventually fade away into nothingness, leaving her alone.
She finds them in the training arena. Caro is tending to Erio as he staggers shakily to his feet, wiping at his face lightly with a hand. Erio is battered and looks tired; Caro’s eyes are dark. Somehow, it breaks Fate’s heart.
They hear her, sense her, before they even see her; they both stiffen, hesitate, before they slowly turn to look at her. Erio blows out a long, painful breath, and Caro blinks, wiping at her eyes furiously.
Fate feels her heart shatter.
She moves without realizing it, crosses the distance between them with no memory of moving at all; kneeling down, she tugs a tissue from her back pocket, gently rubbing Erio’s face and cleaning off the dirt and sweat, her touch as soft as possible. When that tissue is used up, she carelessly stuffs it back into her pocket and finds another one, turning to Caro now, ignoring the tears spilling from the girl’s eyes as she brushes them away.
The second tissue is soon wet, and even then that drifts to the ground as Fate suddenly finds her arms full of two crying, shaking children. And somehow she doesn’t even notice it as she clings to them as tightly as they cling to her, crying with them, and “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”
They hold on as if their lives depend on it.
Aha, angst, I did not expect that from you. :P Interesting take on the post-StrikerS aspect. Even if we think we are over something, the merest thought we could descend like that, is enough to fulfill our fears and make things worse. I think you've captured that essence well. Interesting read.^^
The planet of midchilda, once a lush planet tinted with green and blue. However, the humans grew too strong, and a world war broke out. Millions died, and the scientist all but died by their own weapons. Technology lost, and the planet scarred, the humans struggled to rebuild their way of life. Now, a few hundred years later, the planet will house a new story. One of The Fate, the Nanoha, and the Hayate.
Dirt and sand kicked up behind a horse as it galloped alongside of a speeding train. The black haired animal breathed heavily as it's master urged it to go faster, mentally asking it to hold on for just a bit longer. Seconds passed and a ladder came within grasp of the rider and a gloved hand shot out to grab it. With an awkward, but practiced, leap of faith, a figure made it onto the moving train. A black cape whipped out to the side of the person, revealing a female body.
Blond hair was flying heavily in the wind, kept in a ponytail that was braced at the base of her neck. A black shirt was worn to cover her upper body, paired with a red and black vest that housed quick reloads for a gun that was flapping against her legs in a holster. Jeans that were worn and dirty clung to her legs, almost seeming to be a size too small for the woman. Matching boots were on her feet, but no spurs graced the heels. Finally, a red bandanna was around her neck, matching her eyes perfectly.
The woman shifted her body and slid around to in-between two of the cars. Now free of the rustling wind, she drew her pistol and opened the door leading into the conductor's room. Before the man could even turn around, he was pistol-whipped and fell unconscious to the ground. Reaching for the brake, she pulled it back just enough to slow the train down to a crawl. With that taken care of, the woman turned and walked back outside and then into the boxcar behind. Seeing nothing of interest, the woman continued her trip back, grinning as she saw a car housing several people. Kicking the door open, she stepped in and fired her gun at once, getting screams and then silence. "Greetings!" She called to them with a smile. "I'm sure you know what's going on now, so please by good passengers and place your valuables into this bag." Reaching back, she pulled a large sack that was behind her cape and flung out her wrist to make it flare out and open up. "If anyone tries something funny, I'll blast them, we clear?"
Walking down the isle slowly, the female robbed each one in turn, smiling and thanking them for their kindness at gunpoint. When she reached the end of the boxcar, she stopped at the sight of a woman wearing a pretty white dress. The woman seemed to be asleep, with a Sunday hat with ribbons and frill pulled down a little to keep the sun from her face. The girl's nails were painted a bright pink and a lace ribbon looped around her left hand for design. "Excuse me, miss," The robber spoke, making the woman stir. "This is a robbery here, I'd like your belongings."
A hand went up to the sitting girl's mouth. "Oh gracious me, a robbery you say? My, I don't know nothing about what I should do!" The thick southern accent only added to the woman's innocence, and the robber hesitated a moment before speaking again.
"Look, just take your pretty jewelery and place it in this bag."
"Like this?" The accented voice asked politely, moving her hand to place a golden watch into the bag.
"Hey, Outlaw!" A voice shouted from the front.
The robber turned at once, pointing her gun to where the sound came from, but saw no one offering any resistance. Instead, she found her wrist being grabbed and when she turned back, a boot connected with her chin, knocking her back.
"Fate Testarossa," The accented voice spoke, now paired with a bright white, pink, and blue gun pointing at the fallen robber's chest. "You're worth quite a pretty penny, you know?"
Fate blinked and looked up as the woman removed the silk white hat from her head, showing a pretty face and bright blue eyes. "Nanoha Takamachi... Bounty hunter, huh? Should have known you'd come after me sooner or later." Nanoha grinned at her, but found her legs tripped from a fast move from fate, making her stumble and fall over as well. Fate quickly got to her feet, grabbed the bag, and left the boxcar before Nanoha could pull her gun again. "Thank you!" Fate shouted out as she climbed to the top of the boxcars
Nanoha grunted and got up, running out the door and hopping to the ladder, only to duck her head back down when a bullet bounced off the metal in front of her. Letting out a sigh, she pulled her gun up and shot over the top of the car twice before jumping up and looking around. Fate was nowhere to be seen, making the woman run along the top. After a few seconds, she ran to the side and looked down, seeing the tail end of Fate's cape as she moved between cars again. With a running start, Nanoha leaped over the car gap and ran along it, dropping down between the next car and ducking. Seconds passed and Fate shot through the door and was tripped by Nanoha at once.
Fate shrieked but recovered before falling, twisting and grabbing Nanoha's dress roughly. With a turn, Fate attempted to throw the woman off the train but instead only managed to slam her against the wall.
A loud ripping sound came, and Nanoha looked at her dress, which was now sporting a long tear near her shoulder. "Hey! You tore my dress!"
"Sorry," Fate answered out of habit. A small silence passed between them before they attacked each other again. The women grunted and struggled, throwing a few punches while trying to aim their respective guns at each other to get a shot off. Finally, Fate glared and jumped back. With a grin, she waved goodbye and jumped once more, off the train.
"Hey, wait!" Nanoha shouted, running forward and looking to the side, seeing the woman struggling to right herself onto her horse. Following, Nanoha leaped as well, fumbling as she landed and running just fast enough to grab a hold of Fate. The blonde, however, managed to right herself and whipped her reins, making the horse gallop at once, leaving Nanoha on her face and in the dust.
"See you!" Fate called out triumphantly.
Nanoha coughed hard and pushed herself up. Her dress was smeared with sand and dirt, making her frown. "The rental fee on this is going to be horrible..."
"At least you didn't lose your head," a new voice came.
Nanoha looked to the side and saw a ferret on the ground, her Sunday hat in his mouth. "Thank you, Yuuno," Nanoha bent down and accepted the hat as well as allowed her partner to run up her arm and sit on her shoulder. "But it isn't all that bad,"
"Oh?" The animal cocked his head to the side. "You lost your pay and ruined that dress."
"She'll come back," Nanoha insisted, watching Fate continue to ride away.
"What makes you say that? She got away clean."
Nanoha grinned, holding up a gun. The sun's light reflected off the polished golden surface, making the black on the handle and red streaks on it stand out even more. The word Bardiche was engraved on the gun proudly. "It's a caster gun, she will want it back." Clicking the gun open, Nanoha removed a bright yellow bullet and slid it into her pocket. "I'll take this as payment for the dress."
Yuuno turned to look at the gun as the conductor of the train got out to see if Nanoha was all right. "A caster gun," he spoke softly. "Part of the lost technology of the past... How did she get one?"
"I don't know," Nanoha began walking to the man approaching her. "But I intend to find out."
~**~
A woman smiled to herself as she watched Nanoha board a train from afar. A black one-piece top/skirt combo covered her body, accented by a yellow zipper that zig-zagged over it. A white hat with black trim covered her short brown hair and short boots were on her feet, coming up just a little over her ankles. "Interesting," She spoke out. "The rumors are true, Nanoha-chan does have a spirit linked animal."
"So it seems," A male voice answered her. Walking up beside Hayate, a wolf with shockingly dark blue hair stood beside her. "Are you going to follow her?"
Hayate pulled her hat down a little to block the sun shining down on her eyes. Slowly, a smile came to her face and she turned to walk back to a group of people on horses waiting for her. "Why not? Signam, Shamal, Vita, we're going to have a fun few days ahead of us."
Spoiler for Western!Nanoha pt.2:
~**~
Nanoha let out a long sigh as she opened the door to her hotel room above the local pub. The noise from downstairs was annoying to her, but was disregarded as something she just had to deal with. "I can't believe that dress cost so much."
Nanoha's accented voice made her partner look over at her. "I told you it was a bad idea to go in disguise."
"But she would have recognized me otherwise." Nanoha sat looked around the room, taking in the surroundings. The area was small, housing only a bed, a night stand, and a small table. To the left was a small area for showering, consisting of a shower head, a drain in the floor, and a small section to stand in. "I think I paid too much for this room too."
Yuuno hopped off Nanoha's shoulder and landed on the table. The light brown ferret stood on his hind legs and watched as his friend undressed. "This is an advanced town, they can charge more and people will pay it."
"Running water is a plus." Nanoha finished taking off her clothes and stood in the shower area, turning on the water to wash over her. "The last place we were in was pretty filthy."
Yuuno nodded, reflecting back. "The world is still recovering, it will be a long time before technology is back to the way it was. With the people actively trying to stop it's progression in fear of another war... Take what we can get, I suppose."
"Still," Nanoha mused, her argument stopping there. "Tomorrow we will visit the gunsmith. If he has caster shells, we will need to buy as many as we can. Yuuno-kun, how much money do we have left?"
Yuuno leapt from the table to the bed and pulled out a small pouch from Nanoha's clothes. Picking it up in his mouth, he pulled it across the bed to spill the contents out. "Let's see... Two gold pieces, fifteen silver, and three copper."
"Enough to buy two shells, food, and some water for our trip... I hope that outlaw comes tonight, I could really go for that bounty."
Yuuno glanced over to the side, looking at the golden gun. "Are you not worried about her? Someone with the ability to sync to a caster gun is dangerous."
"I can handle her," Nanoha turned off the water and wrapped a towel around herself. "If it comes to it, I can use one of my shells. The bounty will cover it and allow me to buy more." Walking to the table, Nanoha picked up her gun, observing it. The main body was a bright white, accented by blue on the handle and along the top. Small sections were laced with pink for design, and the clip going into the bottom held the color as well. On the side of it, the word R. Heart was engraved in a blistering gold text. "Caster guns, lost technology that syncs to a specific person and uses their energy to fire special shells..."
Yuuno nodded. "Once synced, they can only be used by that person. The shells are sold at a high cost because they are so rare... which is good for you."
Nanoha felt her lips turn up slightly. "I know it is dangerous to fire them regularly, but I won't ever have to worry about it, because I never have more than a handful on me at a time." Clicking a safety hold off, Nanoha pulled her clip from her gun and checked the bullets. A row of six bullets were seen and she slid it back into her gun, clicking another safety and pulling the top of it back to see a single pink shell. Releasing her hold, she allowed the gun to snap back into place and put it back on the table. "If Fate is going to attack, I wish she'd hurry. I'd like to get some sleep so I can prepare to leave early. According to my information, there is a group of outlaws that are supposed to attack the nearby town soon. The bounty is large."
"If you need money so badly," Yuuno teased his partner. "You could go downstairs and dance along with the piano player's music."
Nanoha sniffed and turned up her nose at the idea. "A lady would never do such a thing!"
~**~
Fate opened a door and stepped inside of the pub, looking around with sharp red eyes. Her prey wasn't in her site so she walked to the bar and caught the keep's eyes. "I'm looking for a girl," she spoke to him. "A little shorter than me, brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a really nice looking dress."
"No one here by that description," The male told her.
Fate scoffed and frowned down at the bar. "Great..."
"Hey toots!" A man spoke up , draping an arm around Fate's shoulders, making her black cowboy hat shift uncomfortably on her head. "How about you and I-"
Fate's eyebrow twitched and she grabbed the front of the man's shirt. "Hands... OFF!" With that she threw him effortlessly over the bar, making a large keg of beer erupt and splash out all over the counter top.
Upstairs, Nanoha's eyes widened at the sound of a crash. Grabbing both her gun and Fate's, she shoved them into holsters on her jeans and ran out of the room. running to the safety rails along the edge of the upper floor's walkway, she saw Fate downstairs thoroughly beating up two people. With a grin, she picke dup her speed.
Quicktime Event!
Press X to jump over the rail and land on the bar below
Press O to take the stairs
Location: Place of rocks and trees, and trees and rocks...and water.
Age: 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by RadiantBeam
Was in a mood, and wrote this while listening to "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds To Mars. It made sense in my head, at least.
Spoiler for The Kings and Queens of Promise:
For several days after the JS incident, Fate avoids Caro and Erio.
She means no harm by it; not really. They stood up for her when she needed it most, they spoke the words she wanted so badly to hear, and she loves them for it. But the guilt, the shame over what could have been, makes it almost impossible for her to look them in the eye.
What could have been, if she’d given in, if she’d listened to Jail and believed him, believed even for a moment that she was and could be—
She is no longer a child, but the memory is still fresh; the flash of eyes, the long dark mane of hair, the whip in hand. It sends a chill through her heart and freezes her bones to ice.
She slams her locker door with more violence than necessary.
Amazingly and unexpectedly, Caro handles Fate’s abandonment much better than anyone ever expected. She focuses on her life, on the day to day things. She trains with Fried whenever she has the opportunity and sometimes even when she doesn’t, putting all of her time and energy into it.
She helps out, busies herself with the chores; cleaning, running errands, doing every little thing she can think of, every little thing possible, so the pain won’t sink in, so it won’t hurt, she won’t have a chance to think about it, to let it linger in her mind.
She can’t stay in her tribe, in the one place she has always lived. She listens as they speak, as they tell her she must leave, and she hugs Fried tightly to her chest, making the little dragon squeak. She bites her tongue hard enough to draw blood and does her best not to cry, to be strong and not to cry….
The plate slips from her hand and shatters once it hits the ground; with a choked gasp Caro braces against the counter as she feels the warm wetness streak her cheeks, and she squeezes her eyes tight to try and block out the pain.
Erio locks the feeling deep inside and trains with Strada. He trains every day, often deep into the night, long, painful hours and only stopping just before sunrise, when he drags himself to bed and collapses to sleep for a few black, dreamless hours. He helps Caro when he can (or when she wants it), but largely he is left alone.
Like Caro, though, he finds ways to keep busy. He trains alone with Strada, or spars with Subaru, Teana, Signum, Zafira. He helps Nanoha with Vivio and listens to her battle advice, and continues pushing himself to his limits. It hurts, it always hurts, but somehow the sweat and the physical ache is better than the mental pain, better than thinking about what it means that Fate no longer talks to them, can’t even look at them, because if he thinks about it he knows it will be worse, so much worse, ten times worse.
He’s being taken away and he’s not strong enough, he’s still too small to do anything. He sees the fight go out of his parents as he leans the truth, as they admit that he isn’t their son, not really; he is only a copy of the boy they lost, he isn’t really their son, he isn’t really…
The boy curses sharply at the fierce surge of pain that rips up his arm from a movement made too hard and fast, and he skids to a stop in his training, panting and trembling, gripping his shoulder tightly.
If his eyes are blurry, he says it’s just sweat that’s gotten into his eyes.
Signum’s voice isn’t judging, isn’t asking questions that Fate doesn’t know how to answer; the pink-haired woman leans quietly against the doorframe and simply watches the blonde as she works through her files, not even looking up at her. “I’m not hiding,” she says softly. “I’m just giving them space.”
From the silence, she knows Signum isn’t impressed by her answer; she doesn’t need to know that it sounds lame and weak. She continues working.
Finally, the warrior sighs. “Just for the record, Caro’s been crying. Erio’s burning himself out.” With that, she closes the door behind her with a soft click as she leaves Fate alone.
In the silence, all Fate hears is the soft scratching of her pen, and even Signum’s footsteps eventually fade away into nothingness, leaving her alone.
She finds them in the training arena. Caro is tending to Erio as he staggers shakily to his feet, wiping at his face lightly with a hand. Erio is battered and looks tired; Caro’s eyes are dark. Somehow, it breaks Fate’s heart.
They hear her, sense her, before they even see her; they both stiffen, hesitate, before they slowly turn to look at her. Erio blows out a long, painful breath, and Caro blinks, wiping at her eyes furiously.
Fate feels her heart shatter.
She moves without realizing it, crosses the distance between them with no memory of moving at all; kneeling down, she tugs a tissue from her back pocket, gently rubbing Erio’s face and cleaning off the dirt and sweat, her touch as soft as possible. When that tissue is used up, she carelessly stuffs it back into her pocket and finds another one, turning to Caro now, ignoring the tears spilling from the girl’s eyes as she brushes them away.
The second tissue is soon wet, and even then that drifts to the ground as Fate suddenly finds her arms full of two crying, shaking children. And somehow she doesn’t even notice it as she clings to them as tightly as they cling to her, crying with them, and “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”
They hold on as if their lives depend on it.
Backsliding is hard, and I'm glad that Fate managed to pull herself together on her own without anyone forcing her to, except for a few gentle words from Signum. Erio and Caro taking Fate's abandonment relatively well is just heartbreaking, since most ten year olds shouldn't have taken it so well. It just goes to show how prematurely grown-up they are.
The way you don't go too much into their thoughts just makes the whole thing that much more tragic in the readers' minds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Satashi
Spoiler for Western!Nanoha pt.1l:
The planet of midchilda, once a lush planet tinted with green and blue. However, the humans grew too strong, and a world war broke out. Millions died, and the scientist all but died by their own weapons. Technology lost, and the planet scarred, the humans struggled to rebuild their way of life. Now, a few hundred years later, the planet will house a new story. One of The Fate, the Nanoha, and the Hayate.
Dirt and sand kicked up behind a horse as it galloped alongside of a speeding train. The black haired animal breathed heavily as it's master urged it to go faster, mentally asking it to hold on for just a bit longer. Seconds passed and a ladder came within grasp of the rider and a gloved hand shot out to grab it. With an awkward, but practiced, leap of faith, a figure made it onto the moving train. A black cape whipped out to the side of the person, revealing a female body.
Blond hair was flying heavily in the wind, kept in a ponytail that was braced at the base of her neck. A black shirt was worn to cover her upper body, paired with a red and black vest that housed quick reloads for a gun that was flapping against her legs in a holster. Jeans that were worn and dirty clung to her legs, almost seeming to be a size too small for the woman. Matching boots were on her feet, but no spurs graced the heels. Finally, a red bandanna was around her neck, matching her eyes perfectly.
The woman shifted her body and slid around to in-between two of the cars. Now free of the rustling wind, she drew her pistol and opened the door leading into the conductor's room. Before the man could even turn around, he was pistol-whipped and fell unconscious to the ground. Reaching for the brake, she pulled it back just enough to slow the train down to a crawl. With that taken care of, the woman turned and walked back outside and then into the boxcar behind. Seeing nothing of interest, the woman continued her trip back, grinning as she saw a car housing several people. Kicking the door open, she stepped in and fired her gun at once, getting screams and then silence. "Greetings!" She called to them with a smile. "I'm sure you know what's going on now, so please by good passengers and place your valuables into this bag." Reaching back, she pulled a large sack that was behind her cape and flung out her wrist to make it flare out and open up. "If anyone tries something funny, I'll blast them, we clear?"
Walking down the isle slowly, the female robbed each one in turn, smiling and thanking them for their kindness at gunpoint. When she reached the end of the boxcar, she stopped at the sight of a woman wearing a pretty white dress. The woman seemed to be asleep, with a Sunday hat with ribbons and frill pulled down a little to keep the sun from her face. The girl's nails were painted a bright pink and a lace ribbon looped around her left hand for design. "Excuse me, miss," The robber spoke, making the woman stir. "This is a robbery here, I'd like your belongings."
A hand went up to the sitting girl's mouth. "Oh gracious me, a robbery you say? My, I don't know nothing about what I should do!" The thick southern accent only added to the woman's innocence, and the robber hesitated a moment before speaking again.
"Look, just take your pretty jewelery and place it in this bag."
"Like this?" The accented voice asked politely, moving her hand to place a golden watch into the bag.
"Hey, Outlaw!" A voice shouted from the front.
The robber turned at once, pointing her gun to where the sound came from, but saw no one offering any resistance. Instead, she found her wrist being grabbed and when she turned back, a boot connected with her chin, knocking her back.
"Fate Testarossa," The accented voice spoke, now paired with a bright white, pink, and blue gun pointing at the fallen robber's chest. "You're worth quite a pretty penny, you know?"
Fate blinked and looked up as the woman removed the silk white hat from her head, showing a pretty face and bright blue eyes. "Nanoha Takamachi... Bounty hunter, huh? Should have known you'd come after me sooner or later." Nanoha grinned at her, but found her legs tripped from a fast move from fate, making her stumble and fall over as well. Fate quickly got to her feet, grabbed the bag, and left the boxcar before Nanoha could pull her gun again. "Thank you!" Fate shouted out as she climbed to the top of the boxcars
Nanoha grunted and got up, running out the door and hopping to the ladder, only to duck her head back down when a bullet bounced off the metal in front of her. Letting out a sigh, she pulled her gun up and shot over the top of the car twice before jumping up and looking around. Fate was nowhere to be seen, making the woman run along the top. After a few seconds, she ran to the side and looked down, seeing the tail end of Fate's cape as she moved between cars again. With a running start, Nanoha leaped over the car gap and ran along it, dropping down between the next car and ducking. Seconds passed and Fate shot through the door and was tripped by Nanoha at once.
Fate shrieked but recovered before falling, twisting and grabbing Nanoha's dress roughly. With a turn, Fate attempted to throw the woman off the train but instead only managed to slam her against the wall.
A loud ripping sound came, and Nanoha looked at her dress, which was now sporting a long tear near her shoulder. "Hey! You tore my dress!"
"Sorry," Fate answered out of habit. A small silence passed between them before they attacked each other again. The women grunted and struggled, throwing a few punches while trying to aim their respective guns at each other to get a shot off. Finally, Fate glared and jumped back. With a grin, she waved goodbye and jumped once more, off the train.
"Hey, wait!" Nanoha shouted, running forward and looking to the side, seeing the woman struggling to right herself onto her horse. Following, Nanoha leaped as well, fumbling as she landed and running just fast enough to grab a hold of Fate. The blonde, however, managed to right herself and whipped her reins, making the horse gallop at once, leaving Nanoha on her face and in the dust.
"See you!" Fate called out triumphantly.
Nanoha coughed hard and pushed herself up. Her dress was smeared with sand and dirt, making her frown. "The rental fee on this is going to be horrible..."
"At least you didn't lose your head," a new voice came.
Nanoha looked to the side and saw a ferret on the ground, her Sunday hat in his mouth. "Thank you, Yuuno," Nanoha bent down and accepted the hat as well as allowed her partner to run up her arm and sit on her shoulder. "But it isn't all that bad,"
"Oh?" The animal cocked his head to the side. "You lost your pay and ruined that dress."
"She'll come back," Nanoha insisted, watching Fate continue to ride away.
"What makes you say that? She got away clean."
Nanoha grinned, holding up a gun. The sun's light reflected off the polished golden surface, making the black on the handle and red streaks on it stand out even more. The word Bardiche was engraved on the gun proudly. "It's a caster gun, she will want it back." Clicking the gun open, Nanoha removed a bright yellow bullet and slid it into her pocket. "I'll take this as payment for the dress."
Yuuno turned to look at the gun as the conductor of the train got out to see if Nanoha was all right. "A caster gun," he spoke softly. "Part of the lost technology of the past... How did she get one?"
"I don't know," Nanoha began walking to the man approaching her. "But I intend to find out."
~**~
A woman smiled to herself as she watched Nanoha board a train from afar. A black one-piece top/skirt combo covered her body, accented by a yellow zipper that zig-zagged over it. A white hat with black trim covered her short brown hair and short boots were on her feet, coming up just a little over her ankles. "Interesting," She spoke out. "The rumors are true, Nanoha-chan does have a spirit linked animal."
"So it seems," A male voice answered her. Walking up beside Hayate, a wolf with shockingly dark blue hair stood beside her. "Are you going to follow her?"
Hayate pulled her hat down a little to block the sun shining down on her eyes. Slowly, a smile came to her face and she turned to walk back to a group of people on horses waiting for her. "Why not? Signam, Shamal, Vita, we're going to have a fun few days ahead of us."
Spoiler for Western!Nanoha pt.2:
~**~
Nanoha let out a long sigh as she opened the door to her hotel room above the local pub. The noise from downstairs was annoying to her, but was disregarded as something she just had to deal with. "I can't believe that dress cost so much."
Nanoha's accented voice made her partner look over at her. "I told you it was a bad idea to go in disguise."
"But she would have recognized me otherwise." Nanoha sat looked around the room, taking in the surroundings. The area was small, housing only a bed, a night stand, and a small table. To the left was a small area for showering, consisting of a shower head, a drain in the floor, and a small section to stand in. "I think I paid too much for this room too."
Yuuno hopped off Nanoha's shoulder and landed on the table. The light brown ferret stood on his hind legs and watched as his friend undressed. "This is an advanced town, they can charge more and people will pay it."
"Running water is a plus." Nanoha finished taking off her clothes and stood in the shower area, turning on the water to wash over her. "The last place we were in was pretty filthy."
Yuuno nodded, reflecting back. "The world is still recovering, it will be a long time before technology is back to the way it was. With the people actively trying to stop it's progression in fear of another war... Take what we can get, I suppose."
"Still," Nanoha mused, her argument stopping there. "Tomorrow we will visit the gunsmith. If he has caster shells, we will need to buy as many as we can. Yuuno-kun, how much money do we have left?"
Yuuno leapt from the table to the bed and pulled out a small pouch from Nanoha's clothes. Picking it up in his mouth, he pulled it across the bed to spill the contents out. "Let's see... Two gold pieces, fifteen silver, and three copper."
"Enough to buy two shells, food, and some water for our trip... I hope that outlaw comes tonight, I could really go for that bounty."
Yuuno glanced over to the side, looking at the golden gun. "Are you not worried about her? Someone with the ability to sync to a caster gun is dangerous."
"I can handle her," Nanoha turned off the water and wrapped a towel around herself. "If it comes to it, I can use one of my shells. The bounty will cover it and allow me to buy more." Walking to the table, Nanoha picked up her gun, observing it. The main body was a bright white, accented by blue on the handle and along the top. Small sections were laced with pink for design, and the clip going into the bottom held the color as well. On the side of it, the word R. Heart was engraved in a blistering gold text. "Caster guns, lost technology that syncs to a specific person and uses their energy to fire special shells..."
Yuuno nodded. "Once synced, they can only be used by that person. The shells are sold at a high cost because they are so rare... which is good for you."
Nanoha felt her lips turn up slightly. "I know it is dangerous to fire them regularly, but I won't ever have to worry about it, because I never have more than a handful on me at a time." Clicking a safety hold off, Nanoha pulled her clip from her gun and checked the bullets. A row of six bullets were seen and she slid it back into her gun, clicking another safety and pulling the top of it back to see a single pink shell. Releasing her hold, she allowed the gun to snap back into place and put it back on the table. "If Fate is going to attack, I wish she'd hurry. I'd like to get some sleep so I can prepare to leave early. According to my information, there is a group of outlaws that are supposed to attack the nearby town soon. The bounty is large."
"If you need money so badly," Yuuno teased his partner. "You could go downstairs and dance along with the piano player's music."
Nanoha sniffed and turned up her nose at the idea. "A lady would never do such a thing!"
~**~
Fate opened a door and stepped inside of the pub, looking around with sharp red eyes. Her prey wasn't in her site so she walked to the bar and caught the keep's eyes. "I'm looking for a girl," she spoke to him. "A little shorter than me, brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a really nice looking dress."
"No one here by that description," The male told her.
Fate scoffed and frowned down at the bar. "Great..."
"Hey toots!" A man spoke up , draping an arm around Fate's shoulders, making her black cowboy hat shift uncomfortably on her head. "How about you and I-"
Fate's eyebrow twitched and she grabbed the front of the man's shirt. "Hands... OFF!" With that she threw him effortlessly over the bar, making a large keg of beer erupt and splash out all over the counter top.
Upstairs, Nanoha's eyes widened at the sound of a crash. Grabbing both her gun and Fate's, she shoved them into holsters on her jeans and ran out of the room. running to the safety rails along the edge of the upper floor's walkway, she saw Fate downstairs thoroughly beating up two people. With a grin, she picke dup her speed.
Quicktime Event!
Press X to jump over the rail and land on the bar below
Press O to take the stairs
O Take the stairs....she's a lady, and I can just see her sauntering down the stairs to taunt Fate .
Was in a mood, and wrote this while listening to "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds To Mars. It made sense in my head, at least.
Spoiler for The Kings and Queens of Promise:
For several days after the JS incident, Fate avoids Caro and Erio.
She means no harm by it; not really. They stood up for her when she needed it most, they spoke the words she wanted so badly to hear, and she loves them for it. But the guilt, the shame over what could have been, makes it almost impossible for her to look them in the eye.
What could have been, if she’d given in, if she’d listened to Jail and believed him, believed even for a moment that she was and could be—
She is no longer a child, but the memory is still fresh; the flash of eyes, the long dark mane of hair, the whip in hand. It sends a chill through her heart and freezes her bones to ice.
She slams her locker door with more violence than necessary.
Amazingly and unexpectedly, Caro handles Fate’s abandonment much better than anyone ever expected. She focuses on her life, on the day to day things. She trains with Fried whenever she has the opportunity and sometimes even when she doesn’t, putting all of her time and energy into it.
She helps out, busies herself with the chores; cleaning, running errands, doing every little thing she can think of, every little thing possible, so the pain won’t sink in, so it won’t hurt, she won’t have a chance to think about it, to let it linger in her mind.
She can’t stay in her tribe, in the one place she has always lived. She listens as they speak, as they tell her she must leave, and she hugs Fried tightly to her chest, making the little dragon squeak. She bites her tongue hard enough to draw blood and does her best not to cry, to be strong and not to cry….
The plate slips from her hand and shatters once it hits the ground; with a choked gasp Caro braces against the counter as she feels the warm wetness streak her cheeks, and she squeezes her eyes tight to try and block out the pain.
Erio locks the feeling deep inside and trains with Strada. He trains every day, often deep into the night, long, painful hours and only stopping just before sunrise, when he drags himself to bed and collapses to sleep for a few black, dreamless hours. He helps Caro when he can (or when she wants it), but largely he is left alone.
Like Caro, though, he finds ways to keep busy. He trains alone with Strada, or spars with Subaru, Teana, Signum, Zafira. He helps Nanoha with Vivio and listens to her battle advice, and continues pushing himself to his limits. It hurts, it always hurts, but somehow the sweat and the physical ache is better than the mental pain, better than thinking about what it means that Fate no longer talks to them, can’t even look at them, because if he thinks about it he knows it will be worse, so much worse, ten times worse.
He’s being taken away and he’s not strong enough, he’s still too small to do anything. He sees the fight go out of his parents as he leans the truth, as they admit that he isn’t their son, not really; he is only a copy of the boy they lost, he isn’t really their son, he isn’t really…
The boy curses sharply at the fierce surge of pain that rips up his arm from a movement made too hard and fast, and he skids to a stop in his training, panting and trembling, gripping his shoulder tightly.
If his eyes are blurry, he says it’s just sweat that’s gotten into his eyes.
Signum’s voice isn’t judging, isn’t asking questions that Fate doesn’t know how to answer; the pink-haired woman leans quietly against the doorframe and simply watches the blonde as she works through her files, not even looking up at her. “I’m not hiding,” she says softly. “I’m just giving them space.”
From the silence, she knows Signum isn’t impressed by her answer; she doesn’t need to know that it sounds lame and weak. She continues working.
Finally, the warrior sighs. “Just for the record, Caro’s been crying. Erio’s burning himself out.” With that, she closes the door behind her with a soft click as she leaves Fate alone.
In the silence, all Fate hears is the soft scratching of her pen, and even Signum’s footsteps eventually fade away into nothingness, leaving her alone.
She finds them in the training arena. Caro is tending to Erio as he staggers shakily to his feet, wiping at his face lightly with a hand. Erio is battered and looks tired; Caro’s eyes are dark. Somehow, it breaks Fate’s heart.
They hear her, sense her, before they even see her; they both stiffen, hesitate, before they slowly turn to look at her. Erio blows out a long, painful breath, and Caro blinks, wiping at her eyes furiously.
Fate feels her heart shatter.
She moves without realizing it, crosses the distance between them with no memory of moving at all; kneeling down, she tugs a tissue from her back pocket, gently rubbing Erio’s face and cleaning off the dirt and sweat, her touch as soft as possible. When that tissue is used up, she carelessly stuffs it back into her pocket and finds another one, turning to Caro now, ignoring the tears spilling from the girl’s eyes as she brushes them away.
The second tissue is soon wet, and even then that drifts to the ground as Fate suddenly finds her arms full of two crying, shaking children. And somehow she doesn’t even notice it as she clings to them as tightly as they cling to her, crying with them, and “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”
They hold on as if their lives depend on it.
Very well done and all, but I just don't see why Fate would suddenly shun them like that. On Caro and Erio's part, they don't want to rely on Fate and cause trouble for her (whereas Fate wants them to rely on her), so if she's locked away doing work or whatever, I'm sure they'd miss her but I don't think they'd react that dramatically. They'd probably make attempts to talk to her if it was really that bad.
Then again most of their relationship development was in the 2nd StrikerS Sound Stage, so perhaps you haven't listened to that yet?
Anyways, like I said it's still well done and you did a good job conveying the emotions, I personally just can't see the characters doing this.
Western!Nanoha is a good enough idea to stand on its own as an original work, rather than a snarl-of-copyright-violations fanfic crossover thing. You'd just have to remove the bits of MGLN and Outlaw Star...
Very well done and all, but I just don't see why Fate would suddenly shun them like that. On Caro and Erio's part, they don't want to rely on Fate and cause trouble for her (whereas Fate wants them to rely on her), so if she's locked away doing work or whatever, I'm sure they'd miss her but I don't think they'd react that dramatically. They'd probably make attempts to talk to her if it was really that bad.
Then again most of their relationship development was in the 2nd StrikerS Sound Stage, so perhaps you haven't listened to that yet?
Anyways, like I said it's still well done and you did a good job conveying the emotions, I personally just can't see the characters doing this.
I haven't heard any of the Sound Stages, so I wouldn't know any of that, and mostly since I was in a mood that kind of dictated what the characters were doing; though the main idea was supposed to be that Fate wasn't even giving them a chance to try and talk to her. But yeah, I didn't really give it much build-up or background, so I can understand how it's jarring.
Location: Place of rocks and trees, and trees and rocks...and water.
Age: 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by 00-Raiser
Very well done and all, but I just don't see why Fate would suddenly shun them like that. On Caro and Erio's part, they don't want to rely on Fate and cause trouble for her (whereas Fate wants them to rely on her), so if she's locked away doing work or whatever, I'm sure they'd miss her but I don't think they'd react that dramatically. They'd probably make attempts to talk to her if it was really that bad.
Then again most of their relationship development was in the 2nd StrikerS Sound Stage, so perhaps you haven't listened to that yet?
Anyways, like I said it's still well done and you did a good job conveying the emotions, I personally just can't see the characters doing this.
Hm, I might be biased since I'm already in the mindset after writing "Forever My Mother", but I can see Fate genuinely worrying about the dark things inside her head that Precia left her. I highly doubt that one motivational speech will knock her out of that, but at the same time I can't see Fate emo-ing over it (which I don't feel that she is in here, just...tired and hurt and wanting to avoid the conflicted emotions that she has) so the short time frame in the short works for me.
Hm, you make a good point on Erio and Caro's personalities, but I think that a sudden change in behaviour from Fate would still make them somewhat anxious...
Then again, I haven't listened to the Sound Stage, so maybe I'm totally off in terms of the nature of their relationship .
2010-04-01, 20:18
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