I'll say A since I can't see Fate skipping school and besides, talking to her friends is a good way to start exploring this mystery, and B because Vivio dragging a bunch of friends home without checking with her mothers first is a serious no-no.
And as long as we're talking about fics, here's the latest chapter of
Fate-chan's No-Title Adventure! ~Chapter 3~
Spoiler for Well, the story's progressing even if the name isn't:
Adjutant Aztek judiciously left the Enforcers in the wreckage of the conference room, ostensibly to "secure the scene" while he called for backup, prisoner transport, and forensics but in reality to give them privacy.
"I know the strategy was supposed to be that we come in like the interdimensional heavies who weren't impressed by Zil's big fish in a small pond routine, but that doesn't mean initiating magical combat!" Yaris barked at the girl. Harlaown flinched, but spoke up right away in her own defense.
"Bardiche detected the guards when we came in, so we kept them monitored."
"Bardiche is your Device?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I said not to call me ma'am."
"Yes, sir."
"Let me guess—an Intelligent Device? I've never known a Storage Device to be a smart-ass." Of course Little Miss AAA+ would have her very own Intelligent Device.
"That's right, Ms. Yaris; his full name is Bardiche Assault. When Mr. Zil got up out of his seat, we detected the guards powering weapons and the mages gathering power for spells, so we counterstruck."
Yaris groaned.
"Let me guess: thus far your experience has been in working out that inflated magical ranking on field recon and tactical ops missions, right? This is your first time questioning a suspect?"
Harlaown's lip quivered.
"Yes, Ms. Yaris."
"I thought so. Gah! When will they stop sending out half-trained recruits just because they can do magic!"
"I'm not half-trained, Ms. Yaris. I'm ranked in the Bureau's top fifty close-combat specialists and passed my Enforcement Bureau field exam fairly!"
"Which has nothing to do with investigating a crime! You can be the biggest, baddest air combat mage in the whole Bureau, but if you can't find what you're supposed to fight, what good does it do?"
Harlaown opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again.
"Getting it, aren't you? Your response was fine—for a combat mission in a hot zone. Find the enemy and zap them before they zap you. But we weren't here to fight enemies, we were here for information. Do you think I didn't know Zil had his thug squad watching us? He's a crime boss—they don't go anywhere without guards. And if they'd been blessedly stupid enough to fire first, we'd have had hum by the short hairs—er, had him where we wanted him," she belatedly corrected her metaphor for language. "Assault on an Enforcer is a serious charge. We'd have had probable cause to search this place from top to bottom, confiscate any illegal antiquities, explore his business records, arrest his people, close down his restaurant, and generally make his life miserable unless he gave us precise, complete, and exact information about our Lost Logia."
She let out her breath in a woosh.
"Expect that, of course, my partner got trigger-happy and blew up the joint. Now not only do we have no charges to threaten Zil with, but we'll be lucky if you don't end up getting in trouble over this."
"I...I'm sorry...I just..."
Yaris's voice softened.
"You just wanted to do well on your first mission, so when you detected the goon squad gearing up, you stepped in to protect your partner and impress me with your magical skills, right?"
"Mm-hm," Harlaown said, nodding.
"Well, I'm glad to have someone of your talents watching my back, but as an Enforcer you have to keep in mind what your objective is."
"Mm-hm," Harlaown repeated. Are those tears? Damn it, they are; she's crying.
Yaris was torn between wanting to hug the girl and scream because this was the reason she hated babysitting for kid prodigies, but she settled on neither. "Hey, pull it together, Harlaown. We've got a job to do here, right?"
The blonde nodded, then raised her head, a look of fierce determination on her face that was so cute Yaris would have laughed if it hadn't been for the overall situation.
"Yes, Ms. Yaris!"
"Good. Now, I presume you have the Circlet's magical wavelength stored in Bardiche from the Bureau's Lost Logia archives?"
"Yes; it was included with the briefing package."
"All right; we're going to do a sweep of this building for it." Given the relative lack of strength of the Lost Logia and all the background magical "noise" from the world's technology she figured even Harlaown would have a detection radius of maybe twenty feet. "If we're blindingly lucky, Zil either commissioned the theft or bought it afterwards and it's on-site."
"W-what do we do if it's not here?" the girl asked hesitantly.
"I'm hoping I'll have thought of something by then."
~X X X~
It wasn't there, and if Nicolas Zil was to be believed, he hadn't heard a thing about it being offered for sale. He admitted to having put out some feelers himself, but his black-market contacts had come back with blank looks and head-scratching. Not only was nobody selling, but there weren't even any credible rumors about who'd commissioned the theft or pulled the actual job.
They'd eventually gotten this information at nine-thirty at night with the cooperation of Zil's legal advocate. A full sweep of the building had turned up plenty by way of "dubiously provenanced" Legarian artifacts and data records of other illegal operations, so uit was clear that he was looking at substantial prison time if the Enforcers were able to make a charge of "threatening a TSAB officer in the pursuit of her duties" stick on account of the guards readying for combat. Even if the charge didn't hold up and the lack of probable cause for the post-fight search negated all the evidence found, it would still take time and effort to slog through the legal battle. Not surprisingly, he'd chosen to talk freely instead of fight it out. Why battle to hold back something that he didn't apparently have any guilty knowledge of in the first place?
Apparently was, of course, the key word there, but examination of his communications terminals and computers all bore out that suggestion; despite the evidence of numerous other illegal activities, he didn't seem to be involved in the matter of the stolen Lost Logia. Indeed, the computer analysis team found a number of messages where he'd sought information only to receive nothing in return, and similar contacts where other people had asked him the same questions and gotten the same answers.
It all pointed to one conclusion: the Circlet of Thessidor had not been offered for auction, and nobody in the underground of the Andorelan illegal-antiquities trade had anything resembling a serious rumor even of who might have pulled off the theft, let alone on whose behalf.
"I'm sorry," Yaris told Aztek as they watched Zil leave the NSF HQ with his attorney and the bald assistant. A luxury car, a dull gold in color that looked silver in the artificial lights, was waiting for him. "I know you'd have liked to put him away."
"Ah, it doesn't matter," he waved it off. "Even negative information is worth something, right? And hey, at least I got to knock the smug bastard cold, thanks to your spell. That was definitely worth it."
"He won't take that well," Yaris observed. "A man like that, his ego will insist on getting back at you."
"Let him try. He doesn't realize it yet, but he's already seen the beginning of the end of his criminal career. Thanks to today's raid, we have more data about his operations than we ever have—people, places, methods of contact, financial institutions involved, account numbers, the works. Sure, we can't charge him with anything we found out today, but we can put surveillance on targets, flag accounts for activity, set up stings using inside information, and build an ironclad case."
"You'll need probable cause for that, won't you? Truth be told, we'd need a really friendly judge to agree that Harlaown had any justification, and if Zil's got the pull you say he has, you won't get that in a local hearing."
"True enough, but I won't need it."
Yaris blinked in confusion. "How do you figure? If she didn't have a valid reason to open fire, then everything you learned is the fruit of the poisonous tree, and—" She broke off, then grinned as the light dawned. "But no, that's not right, is it? Zil took the deal, which legitimizes the collected evidence, not as the basis for charges in and of itself which would be forbidden under the deal, but so far as your department's right to have it goes, and to use it to provide intel for investigation into future criminal activities."
"That's it exactly," Aztek said, his smile still firmly in place.
"Glad we could be of service."
"Yeah, except that it's supposed to be the other way around, us helping you find that Lost Logia, not you helping us us clean up our local cases."
Yaris stifled a yawn.
"Well, false leads and dead ends happen, and at least this one wasn't a complete waste of time. We'll just have to take it from the top in the morning. Most of the people we want to talk to are here, and it's probably past the kid's bedtime, anyway."
"Do you want a ride to your hotel?"
"That's okay. You've got a lot of stuff still to work on here with your end of the case."
The Enforcers took a cab back to their hotel. Despite the hotel's stately exterior, the accomodations were no different than those Yaris had had on dozens of missions. The room was a generic family-type one with two beds, clean and comfortable with no frills, cream and beige the predominant hues.
"You can take the first shower if you like," she told Harlaown and kicked off her shoes. I should have stayed in my Barrier Jacket a few extra hours, she told herself. These uniform pumps are killing my feet.
"All right. Thank you."
While the girl vanished into the bathroom, Yaris eyeballed the automatic coffee pot, set it for "boiling water," and made herself a cup of tea. As expected, it was a local, generic brand and the disposable foam cup was hardly designed to bring out the best taste, but she'd never been a snob about such things, anyway. She carried it over to the room's card table, sat down in one of the chairs, and had Star Sentry open up the official case file so she could log the day's reports as the senior officer. Most of it was easy enough; the only tricky part was trying to figure out how to characterize Harlaown's little outburst of magical enthusiasm.
"Hmm...okay, record dictation: Subject Zil displayed a hostile posture by stationing armed and mage-talented employees to attempt to secretly cover the meeting location. When the conversation between Enforcer Yaris and subject became heated, said employees prepared to ambush Enforcers and local liaison by arming weapons and linking mana. Enforcer Harlaown sensed—correction: detected—ambush preparations and responded with non-lethal force. Cease dictation." She read the text over, making sure it was correct and looked in print the way it had in her head. "Yeah, that's good." She reached for her tea.
"Why didn't you enter my mistake in the report?"
Another two seconds and she'd have had tea in her mouth to do a classic spit-take.
"Gah! You walk like a cat!"
Harlaown was done with the bathroom, now wearing a thin white hotel robe over an ankle-length satiny black nightgown. Fuzzy slippers provided for her near-silent steps.
"I'm sorry..."
"It's okay," Yaris waved it off. "Anyway, the reason I didn't put a reprimand in the report is that I'm supposed to be teaching you the ins and outs of being an Enforcer. You made a mistake and you get called on it. Hopefully you'll know better next time. If you'd done something malicious or dangerous or terminally stupid, yeah, I'd write you up, but you don't deserve a black mark on your file for not knowing something nobody had ever bothered to teach you."
Harlaown's face lit up.
"Really?"
"Really." Yaris set down her teacup. "Look, we haven't even had time to properly introduce ourselves yet. I'm Valentine Yaris. My Storage Device is Star Sentry."
"Fate T. Harlaown, and Intelligent Device Bardiche. It's a pleasure to be working with you, Ms. Yaris."
"Nice to meet you, too."
"Even so, I'm really sorry. You spent hours cleaning up after my mistake, and we didn't learn anything from Zil."
Yaris shook her head.
"Not exactly. We learned with a pretty high level of confidence that the Andorelan illegal-antiquities market isn't involved in the theft. So Adjutant Aztek's first assumption was wrong. I ran with his idea today because his people had already put in the initial grunt work and his conclusion seemed reasonable from what we knew. Tomorrow, though, we take it from the top, and sort out which of three theories might apply—unless we go completely off the rails."
"Three theories?"
She pulled out the chair next to her.
"Sit down."
Harlaown sat.
"Okay, so we know the Circlet was stolen, but not for the Andorelan market. So: theory one, it was sold for the dimensional market, offworld, where Zil and his kind don't have dealings."
The child frowned.
"Is that very likely?" she asked. "The way you and Mr. Aztek were talking, it didn't sound like the Circlet of Thessidor would be very important to people not from Andorel."
"I agree, it's not likely at all. See, now you're thinking like an investigator."
"Thinking...like...?"
"It's not that different from combat, really. You observe all the available information; sort out what's truth, what's innuendo, and what's just noise; draw conclusions; and take action. For example, you wear black underwear, you have a black nightgown, your Barrier Jacket is black, gold, and white, and in your open suitcase over there I can see that your causal clothes are a black T-shirt and white shorts. Yet you had pink ribbons in your hair today that don't go with anything you wear, so I'm guessing they mean something to you."
Harlaown blushed and looked away.
"They...were a gift from my best friend Nanoha. When we first became friends, we were going to be away from each other for several months, so we traded ribbons. I...wore them for good luck...since it's my first mission as an Enforcer," she finished in a very small voice, almost inaudible.
Fate's confession put Yaris in mind of some of the things her daughter did, the kind of things that made her want to squeal "So cute!" Yaris had a feeling that Fate wouldn't appreciate that reaction very much.
"I see; that explains that. But do you understand what I mean by thinking like an investigator?"
"I think that I do...although I'm not sure I'll be able to do very well at it right away."
"The tests show you have the aptitude for it; otherwise they'd have sent you to another TSAB branch. The most important thing is just to remember what you're doing at all times. When you keep in mind what you're trying to accomplish, then you aren't likely to get too far out of line or distracted by trivia."
"I'll try, Ms. Yaris."
"Can't ask for more than that." She swallowed the last of her tea, then leaned back and stretched, hearing her joints pop. "I'm too young to be getting too old for this. Hey, speaking of which, do you mind if I kind of ask a personal question?"
"Um, I guess not..."
"Why did you decide to become an Enforcer? I've seen your record, at least the non-classified part of it, and I'd have thought that after what you've experienced you'd have seen enough Lost Logia for a lifetime."
Fate shook her head.
"That's why I want to be an Enforcer. I've seen for myself the kind of pain and grief that Lost Logia can cause people, so I want to try and keep anyone else from going through that."
"A brave goal."
"You don't have to make fun of me," Fate said, pouting a little.
"I wasn't. It's what we stand for as Enforcers, why the TSAB itself exists. Time and again we've seen it throughout history, people, cultures, even entire worlds obliterated because of the hunger for power. We work to stop these tragedies from repeating themselves, either due to rogue elements with an agenda or just because of the nature of some technology, that it can't be used safely. That's pretty much what all of us who put on this uniform are fighting for."
"Ms. Yaris—"
She held up a hand.
"Make it Val. I mean, we're supposed to be partners, right?"
Fate's face lit up and she nodded firmly.
"Mmn!"
~X X X~
Darkness sheathed the sky above in its velvet grasp, yet even this could not bring him peace. Stars gleamed, yet clouded, obscured, as if their light had to fight through shifting, twisting darkness. Lights stabbed out of the night, the jewel-toned gleam of magefire in the hearts of crystal illumination of windows and streets driving back the dark.
By instinct or desperation, his steps had driven him away from the milling throngs of people that filled the streets with revelry constant crowds all out on their own business, heedless of the pain that gnawed at his heart like it was being torn out of him. Their indifference was not their fault, for they did not know him or his feelings, so they could not be expected to sympathize, and yet even so their complete absorption in their own private matters stung.
In the quiet stillness of a park garden he was able to escape for a time, the walk exhausting not his body but his mind, worn out from processing the strange, shifting world that he made his way through. He dripped to a seat on a broad granite high-backed wooden bench and in a moment was stretched out on it.
His sleep was troubled by twisted, strange dreams, all centering around a woman whose features kept changing, shifting, but always in any permutation evoking emotions of loss and sorrow so strong that even the act of waking that dispelled her image from his perception brought on a wave of bitter despair that threatened to drown his soul.
"Hey! Hey, buddy, you can't sleep here."
The hand of the uniformed Watch City Police Officer was heavy with the casual contempt of one who'd grown to used to rousting the homeless, the drunk, the addict, the unlucky, the ill, and who had lost his sympathy for the people themselves and their circumstances, seeking only to remove them all from his path so he would not be bothered by their presence. His callous indifference set a spark to despair, turning it to rage, and with a snarl a burst of green flame smashed into the law officer's chest, knocking him away where he lay in a crumpled heap.
The man pushed himself to his feet and stumbled on, away from the bench, away from dreams too cruel to bear, beneath stars that shifted to and fro in the sky, refusing to hold their place in the firmament.
You know, this by itself would make a very epic title.
Quote:
Spoiler for Well, the story's progressing even if the name isn't:
Adjutant Aztek judiciously left the Enforcers in the wreckage of the conference room, ostensibly to "secure the scene" while he called for backup, prisoner transport, and forensics but in reality to give them privacy.
"I know the strategy was supposed to be that we come in like the interdimensional heavies who weren't impressed by Zil's big fish in a small pond routine, but that doesn't mean initiating magical combat!" Yaris barked at the girl. Harlaown flinched, but spoke up right away in her own defense.
"Bardiche detected the guards when we came in, so we kept them monitored."
"Bardiche is your Device?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I said not to call me ma'am."
"Yes, sir."
"Let me guess—an Intelligent Device? I've never known a Storage Device to be a smart-ass." Of course Little Miss AAA+ would have her very own Intelligent Device.
"That's right, Ms. Yaris; his full name is Bardiche Assault. When Mr. Zil got up out of his seat, we detected the guards powering weapons and the mages gathering power for spells, so we counterstruck."
Yaris groaned.
"Let me guess: thus far your experience has been in working out that inflated magical ranking on field recon and tactical ops missions, right? This is your first time questioning a suspect?"
Harlaown's lip quivered.
"Yes, Ms. Yaris."
"I thought so. Gah! When will they stop sending out half-trained recruits just because they can do magic!"
"I'm not half-trained, Ms. Yaris. I'm ranked in the Bureau's top fifty close-combat specialists and passed my Enforcement Bureau field exam fairly!"
"Which has nothing to do with investigating a crime! You can be the biggest, baddest air combat mage in the whole Bureau, but if you can't find what you're supposed to fight, what good does it do?"
Harlaown opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again.
"Getting it, aren't you? Your response was fine—for a combat mission in a hot zone. Find the enemy and zap them before they zap you. But we weren't here to fight enemies, we were here for information. Do you think I didn't know Zil had his thug squad watching us? He's a crime boss—they don't go anywhere without guards. And if they'd been blessedly stupid enough to fire first, we'd have had hum by the short hairs—er, had him where we wanted him," she belatedly corrected her metaphor for language. "Assault on an Enforcer is a serious charge. We'd have had probable cause to search this place from top to bottom, confiscate any illegal antiquities, explore his business records, arrest his people, close down his restaurant, and generally make his life miserable unless he gave us precise, complete, and exact information about our Lost Logia."
She let out her breath in a woosh.
"Expect that, of course, my partner got trigger-happy and blew up the joint. Now not only do we have no charges to threaten Zil with, but we'll be lucky if you don't end up getting in trouble over this."
"I...I'm sorry...I just..."
Yaris's voice softened.
"You just wanted to do well on your first mission, so when you detected the goon squad gearing up, you stepped in to protect your partner and impress me with your magical skills, right?"
"Mm-hm," Harlaown said, nodding.
"Well, I'm glad to have someone of your talents watching my back, but as an Enforcer you have to keep in mind what your objective is."
"Mm-hm," Harlaown repeated. Are those tears? Damn it, they are; she's crying.
Yaris was torn between wanting to hug the girl and scream because this was the reason she hated babysitting for kid prodigies, but she settled on neither. "Hey, pull it together, Harlaown. We've got a job to do here, right?"
The blonde nodded, then raised her head, a look of fierce determination on her face that was so cute Yaris would have laughed if it hadn't been for the overall situation.
"Yes, Ms. Yaris!"
"Good. Now, I presume you have the Circlet's magical wavelength stored in Bardiche from the Bureau's Lost Logia archives?"
"Yes; it was included with the briefing package."
"All right; we're going to do a sweep of this building for it." Given the relative lack of strength of the Lost Logia and all the background magical "noise" from the world's technology she figured even Harlaown would have a detection radius of maybe twenty feet. "If we're blindingly lucky, Zil either commissioned the theft or bought it afterwards and it's on-site."
"W-what do we do if it's not here?" the girl asked hesitantly.
"I'm hoping I'll have thought of something by then."
~X X X~
It wasn't there, and if Nicolas Zil was to be believed, he hadn't heard a thing about it being offered for sale. He admitted to having put out some feelers himself, but his black-market contacts had come back with blank looks and head-scratching. Not only was nobody selling, but there weren't even any credible rumors about who'd commissioned the theft or pulled the actual job.
They'd eventually gotten this information at nine-thirty at night with the cooperation of Zil's legal advocate. A full sweep of the building had turned up plenty by way of "dubiously provenanced" Legarian artifacts and data records of other illegal operations, so uit was clear that he was looking at substantial prison time if the Enforcers were able to make a charge of "threatening a TSAB officer in the pursuit of her duties" stick on account of the guards readying for combat. Even if the charge didn't hold up and the lack of probable cause for the post-fight search negated all the evidence found, it would still take time and effort to slog through the legal battle. Not surprisingly, he'd chosen to talk freely instead of fight it out. Why battle to hold back something that he didn't apparently have any guilty knowledge of in the first place?
Apparently was, of course, the key word there, but examination of his communications terminals and computers all bore out that suggestion; despite the evidence of numerous other illegal activities, he didn't seem to be involved in the matter of the stolen Lost Logia. Indeed, the computer analysis team found a number of messages where he'd sought information only to receive nothing in return, and similar contacts where other people had asked him the same questions and gotten the same answers.
It all pointed to one conclusion: the Circlet of Thessidor had not been offered for auction, and nobody in the underground of the Andorelan illegal-antiquities trade had anything resembling a serious rumor even of who might have pulled off the theft, let alone on whose behalf.
"I'm sorry," Yaris told Aztek as they watched Zil leave the NSF HQ with his attorney and the bald assistant. A luxury car, a dull gold in color that looked silver in the artificial lights, was waiting for him. "I know you'd have liked to put him away."
"Ah, it doesn't matter," he waved it off. "Even negative information is worth something, right? And hey, at least I got to knock the smug bastard cold, thanks to your spell. That was definitely worth it."
"He won't take that well," Yaris observed. "A man like that, his ego will insist on getting back at you."
"Let him try. He doesn't realize it yet, but he's already seen the beginning of the end of his criminal career. Thanks to today's raid, we have more data about his operations than we ever have—people, places, methods of contact, financial institutions involved, account numbers, the works. Sure, we can't charge him with anything we found out today, but we can put surveillance on targets, flag accounts for activity, set up stings using inside information, and build an ironclad case."
"You'll need probable cause for that, won't you? Truth be told, we'd need a really friendly judge to agree that Harlaown had any justification, and if Zil's got the pull you say he has, you won't get that in a local hearing."
"True enough, but I won't need it."
Yaris blinked in confusion. "How do you figure? If she didn't have a valid reason to open fire, then everything you learned is the fruit of the poisonous tree, and—" She broke off, then grinned as the light dawned. "But no, that's not right, is it? Zil took the deal, which legitimizes the collected evidence, not as the basis for charges in and of itself which would be forbidden under the deal, but so far as your department's right to have it goes, and to use it to provide intel for investigation into future criminal activities."
"That's it exactly," Aztek said, his smile still firmly in place.
"Glad we could be of service."
"Yeah, except that it's supposed to be the other way around, us helping you find that Lost Logia, not you helping us us clean up our local cases."
Yaris stifled a yawn.
"Well, false leads and dead ends happen, and at least this one wasn't a complete waste of time. We'll just have to take it from the top in the morning. Most of the people we want to talk to are here, and it's probably past the kid's bedtime, anyway."
"Do you want a ride to your hotel?"
"That's okay. You've got a lot of stuff still to work on here with your end of the case."
The Enforcers took a cab back to their hotel. Despite the hotel's stately exterior, the accomodations were no different than those Yaris had had on dozens of missions. The room was a generic family-type one with two beds, clean and comfortable with no frills, cream and beige the predominant hues.
"You can take the first shower if you like," she told Harlaown and kicked off her shoes. I should have stayed in my Barrier Jacket a few extra hours, she told herself. These uniform pumps are killing my feet.
"All right. Thank you."
While the girl vanished into the bathroom, Yaris eyeballed the automatic coffee pot, set it for "boiling water," and made herself a cup of tea. As expected, it was a local, generic brand and the disposable foam cup was hardly designed to bring out the best taste, but she'd never been a snob about such things, anyway. She carried it over to the room's card table, sat down in one of the chairs, and had Star Sentry open up the official case file so she could log the day's reports as the senior officer. Most of it was easy enough; the only tricky part was trying to figure out how to characterize Harlaown's little outburst of magical enthusiasm.
"Hmm...okay, record dictation: Subject Zil displayed a hostile posture by stationing armed and mage-talented employees to attempt to secretly cover the meeting location. When the conversation between Enforcer Yaris and subject became heated, said employees prepared to ambush Enforcers and local liaison by arming weapons and linking mana. Enforcer Harlaown sensed—correction: detected—ambush preparations and responded with non-lethal force. Cease dictation." She read the text over, making sure it was correct and looked in print the way it had in her head. "Yeah, that's good." She reached for her tea.
"Why didn't you enter my mistake in the report?"
Another two seconds and she'd have had tea in her mouth to do a classic spit-take.
"Gah! You walk like a cat!"
Harlaown was done with the bathroom, now wearing a thin white hotel robe over an ankle-length satiny black nightgown. Fuzzy slippers provided for her near-silent steps.
"I'm sorry..."
"It's okay," Yaris waved it off. "Anyway, the reason I didn't put a reprimand in the report is that I'm supposed to be teaching you the ins and outs of being an Enforcer. You made a mistake and you get called on it. Hopefully you'll know better next time. If you'd done something malicious or dangerous or terminally stupid, yeah, I'd write you up, but you don't deserve a black mark on your file for not knowing something nobody had ever bothered to teach you."
Harlaown's face lit up.
"Really?"
"Really." Yaris set down her teacup. "Look, we haven't even had time to properly introduce ourselves yet. I'm Valentine Yaris. My Storage Device is Star Sentry."
"Fate T. Harlaown, and Intelligent Device Bardiche. It's a pleasure to be working with you, Ms. Yaris."
"Nice to meet you, too."
"Even so, I'm really sorry. You spent hours cleaning up after my mistake, and we didn't learn anything from Zil."
Yaris shook her head.
"Not exactly. We learned with a pretty high level of confidence that the Andorelan illegal-antiquities market isn't involved in the theft. So Adjutant Aztek's first assumption was wrong. I ran with his idea today because his people had already put in the initial grunt work and his conclusion seemed reasonable from what we knew. Tomorrow, though, we take it from the top, and sort out which of three theories might apply—unless we go completely off the rails."
"Three theories?"
She pulled out the chair next to her.
"Sit down."
Harlaown sat.
"Okay, so we know the Circlet was stolen, but not for the Andorelan market. So: theory one, it was sold for the dimensional market, offworld, where Zil and his kind don't have dealings."
The child frowned.
"Is that very likely?" she asked. "The way you and Mr. Aztek were talking, it didn't sound like the Circlet of Thessidor would be very important to people not from Andorel."
"I agree, it's not likely at all. See, now you're thinking like an investigator."
"Thinking...like...?"
"It's not that different from combat, really. You observe all the available information; sort out what's truth, what's innuendo, and what's just noise; draw conclusions; and take action. For example, you wear black underwear, you have a black nightgown, your Barrier Jacket is black, gold, and white, and in your open suitcase over there I can see that your causal clothes are a black T-shirt and white shorts. Yet you had pink ribbons in your hair today that don't go with anything you wear, so I'm guessing they mean something to you."
Harlaown blushed and looked away.
"They...were a gift from my best friend Nanoha. When we first became friends, we were going to be away from each other for several months, so we traded ribbons. I...wore them for good luck...since it's my first mission as an Enforcer," she finished in a very small voice, almost inaudible.
Fate's confession put Yaris in mind of some of the things her daughter did, the kind of things that made her want to squeal "So cute!" Yaris had a feeling that Fate wouldn't appreciate that reaction very much.
"I see; that explains that. But do you understand what I mean by thinking like an investigator?"
"I think that I do...although I'm not sure I'll be able to do very well at it right away."
"The tests show you have the aptitude for it; otherwise they'd have sent you to another TSAB branch. The most important thing is just to remember what you're doing at all times. When you keep in mind what you're trying to accomplish, then you aren't likely to get too far out of line or distracted by trivia."
"I'll try, Ms. Yaris."
"Can't ask for more than that." She swallowed the last of her tea, then leaned back and stretched, hearing her joints pop. "I'm too young to be getting too old for this. Hey, speaking of which, do you mind if I kind of ask a personal question?"
"Um, I guess not..."
"Why did you decide to become an Enforcer? I've seen your record, at least the non-classified part of it, and I'd have thought that after what you've experienced you'd have seen enough Lost Logia for a lifetime."
Fate shook her head.
"That's why I want to be an Enforcer. I've seen for myself the kind of pain and grief that Lost Logia can cause people, so I want to try and keep anyone else from going through that."
"A brave goal."
"You don't have to make fun of me," Fate said, pouting a little.
"I wasn't. It's what we stand for as Enforcers, why the TSAB itself exists. Time and again we've seen it throughout history, people, cultures, even entire worlds obliterated because of the hunger for power. We work to stop these tragedies from repeating themselves, either due to rogue elements with an agenda or just because of the nature of some technology, that it can't be used safely. That's pretty much what all of us who put on this uniform are fighting for."
"Ms. Yaris—"
She held up a hand.
"Make it Val. I mean, we're supposed to be partners, right?"
Fate's face lit up and she nodded firmly.
"Mmn!"
~X X X~
Darkness sheathed the sky above in its velvet grasp, yet even this could not bring him peace. Stars gleamed, yet clouded, obscured, as if their light had to fight through shifting, twisting darkness. Lights stabbed out of the night, the jewel-toned gleam of magefire in the hearts of crystal illumination of windows and streets driving back the dark.
By instinct or desperation, his steps had driven him away from the milling throngs of people that filled the streets with revelry constant crowds all out on their own business, heedless of the pain that gnawed at his heart like it was being torn out of him. Their indifference was not their fault, for they did not know him or his feelings, so they could not be expected to sympathize, and yet even so their complete absorption in their own private matters stung.
In the quiet stillness of a park garden he was able to escape for a time, the walk exhausting not his body but his mind, worn out from processing the strange, shifting world that he made his way through. He dripped to a seat on a broad granite high-backed wooden bench and in a moment was stretched out on it.
His sleep was troubled by twisted, strange dreams, all centering around a woman whose features kept changing, shifting, but always in any permutation evoking emotions of loss and sorrow so strong that even the act of waking that dispelled her image from his perception brought on a wave of bitter despair that threatened to drown his soul.
"Hey! Hey, buddy, you can't sleep here."
The hand of the uniformed Watch City Police Officer was heavy with the casual contempt of one who'd grown to used to rousting the homeless, the drunk, the addict, the unlucky, the ill, and who had lost his sympathy for the people themselves and their circumstances, seeking only to remove them all from his path so he would not be bothered by their presence. His callous indifference set a spark to despair, turning it to rage, and with a snarl a burst of green flame smashed into the law officer's chest, knocking him away where he lay in a crumpled heap.
The man pushed himself to his feet and stumbled on, away from the bench, away from dreams too cruel to bear, beneath stars that shifted to and fro in the sky, refusing to hold their place in the firmament.
So, finally, we start to see Yaris (or is it Val, now?) warming up to Fate, even when she scolds her for making the wrong call. She's definitely got a motherly/big sisterly edge to her despite what she says, and it's sweet to see her looking after Fate and teaching her how to be a good Enforcer. Of course, now, I say this but with all of the development she's gotten recently, she's rather fit for a meaningful character death to drive Fate....
.... Yeah, um....
He just killed someone, so I don't think many people will be sympathetic to hi, now. ^^;;;;;;; Even if he's under the influence of a Lost Logia that's mused with his mind.
Spoiler for Part 7 Vivio CYOA.Can anyone think of a good name for me?:
"Library?" Corona asked me at once, smiling from ear to ear. "I want to practice some on these new math problems we have, they seem like fun." Her words turned a few heads, but those that were in our class last year just passed by as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Rio hummed and thought about it, a strange sight coming from her. "Are you sure? Do you feel okay, Vivio? You took quite a blow earlier."
I nodded. "Passing out from the heat is embarrassing, but I don't think it'll bother me in the library, why?"
Corona looked shocked. "You don't remember?"
"Re...member?"
Rio put her hand on my forehead. "About lunch?"
"Lunch?" I reached up and took Rio's hand from my forehead, but accepted her grasp when she interlaced out fingers. "What do you mean?"
Corona looked impressed. "I wonder if that was intentional to make her forget?"
I looked at Corona now. "Wha-what?"
"Never mind, never mind!" Rio started walking, swinging our hands in a half arc as we left the classroom. "To the library!"
Einhart was waiting for us at the front gates and smiled when she saw me walking along with a cheerful Rio. "Are you feeling better?" she asked me while falling into step next to me when Corona made space for her.
"Lots, I'm just embarrassed I fainted on the first day of school. Normally I'm really good about being in the heat." Einhart blushed and looked at me a little closer, moving some of my hair away and looking at my temple. "Is something wrong?"
"No," Einhart shook her head.
With that confusing statement, I walked with my friends down the unfamiliar path leading into town before we came across the streets we knew that lead to the library. We could have taken a bus, but due to my insistence of being fine, we saved our money and walked the twenty-some minutes to our destination.
The cold air came over us at once and I let out a happy sigh at it. "Oh thank goodness, air conditioner." I hummed happily as we waved to the receptionist who knew us by name and continued to our normal spot. About half way there, I saw someone carrying a large stack of books that went over their head. The top one fell off and clattered onto the floor, making them struggle to try and pick it up without dropping the rest of the books.
"Coming?" Einhart and my friends turned back to look at me from a little ways ahead.
Spoiler for Vivid Life pt. 8:
"One second!" I called back before hurrying over to the person and picking up the book for them. "Here, should I help you carry them?" At that moment, the person peeked around the books and I couldn't help but grin. "Arf!"
"Hello, Vivio." She wagged her tail when I took half of the stack for her. My friends came back to me and after a few greetings, we were each carrying a few books while walking with our friend to the office she shared with Yuuno.
My oldest friend was at his desk, glasses slightly down on his nose as he looked at papers in front of him. "That stupid Chrono..." I heard him mutter to himself while his eyes scanned the document before him. When I cleared my throat he looked up and blinked a few times before realizing we were helping Arf carry the books. "Oh! Thank you, girls."
I smiled at him and was nudged by Rio, whose foot I quickly stomped on. She made a high pitched whine and turned to Corona, who accepted a hug and stroked her hair. "Hi, Yuuno-kun!" I greeted as if nothing had happened. "Chrono-san got you working again?"
"Yeah," the male leaned back in his desk and sighed. "He needs information on things that would normally take me a few days to get, but he needs it tomorrow. I'm going to be pulling an all nighter again."
"Want some help?" I asked at once. I had worked with him enough in the past to be known as 'The Little Librarian' all around the building. In fact, most everyone on the staff knew my name.
"We can help too," Corona offered at once. She had a summer job with the library last year and although she worked with Yuuno, she was more a go-for. Rio was nodded as well, showing a fang over her bottom lip. Einahrt-san, the poor girl, was looking a little out of place with this new turn out. Although she was smart, I knew being at the library wasn't her idea of time well spent.
"I appreciate it, but you just got out of your first day of school, right? I can't have you working part time already-"
I interrupted him with a happy tone. "The more you say no, the more time you're going to waste before you tell us what we should do." He gave a helpless smile at us and Arf hopped on the corner of the man's desk, tail wagging.
For the next three hours, I found myself scanning books left and right with magic circles all around me. Although I wasn't on par with Yuuno-kun, I was way more advanced than any of the other staff. I collected data and stored it in a monitor Kris brought up for me before it was sent to Corona. My light brown haired friend was sorting the data into several different types of monitors before having a finished product screen to the side. Rio was working between Yuuno and me, pre-scanning our information before it was sent to us so we wouldn't waste our time on needless things.
Einhart-san had the worst job, I think. She was running around with Arf collecting different books to bring to us to read. As soon as they dropped off a set, more were picked up to replace where they had got them before, only to repeat the cycle over and over again.
When the last hour ticked by, Yuuno called a stop to our operation and looked in satisfaction at the report that Corona had gathered. Although not near as strong as us on the battlefield, Corona was above even Yuuno at that age when it came to knowledge. The report made seemed to really impress Yuuno and he put his hand on her head to show his satisfaction. My friend's cheeks colored darkly and she looked down at the floor, stammering out a thank you.
Rio nudged me again and leaned over to whisper into my ear. "Oh look, you have competition."
I blushed as well and Corona met my eye before looking as if she just realized something and turning away. 'Ohhh....' I felt a twinge of guilt run through me, but it was dismissed when Yuuno-kun spoke to us all.
"Thanks a lot girls, you are all life savors." He brought up a monitor with his device and the screen split after he tapped on it a few times. A small display went over to each of us and I realized it was a small paycheck. I accepted it happily and giggled lightly when my friends stammered out a refusal before finally taking it as well.
After a quick hug to Arf and a slightly reluctant one to Yuuno after glancing at Corona again, we left the library and went into the darkening night.
"What now?" Rio asked while looking up.
Spoiler for Part 9:
I hummed. "Would you like to come over for dinner?" I smiled at them sweetly.
"Ooh, I would love to," Rio agreed at once.
Corona seemed a little more reserved, but still nodded and smiled. "Sure, Nanoha-san always makes great meals."
Einhart looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry, I have prior plans for the night." She didn't give us any more information than that, and walked backwards when we made it to the next block. "I'll have to catch up with you tomorrow, bye." With that, she jogged off, leaving us standing at the corner.
Rio placed a hand on her chin. "Einhart is acting strangely."
"She is," I agreed. "She normally bows before trotting off, and this isn't even where she splits off at, is it?"
"From the new school, I'm not certain, but I think she should have gone with us for a few more blocks..." Corona mused. We all looked at each other before nodding and running off after Einhart. We stayed a bit back as to not rise her suspicion and followed her secretly.
After a few blocks we huddled around a corner and watched her sit down at an outdoor table near a restaurant. She ordered a drink and we watched her for a few moments before a person came and sat down in front of her, making Einhart stand up and bow.
"Is that Nove?" I asked curiously. My older friend sat down with Einhart and started talking to each other. I couldn't hear what was being said, but Einhart was blushing rather hard. Nove was smiling at her and pointing out something on a tri-fold brochure. "What are they talking about?"
Location: Pennsylvania. It's sort of like a real state.
Age: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaijo
Chapter 8 of Future Tense is up on ff.net and you can find it here. Actually put it up last night before I headed to bed, heh.
You scared me for a second there. 'It's already up to chapter eight?! When did that happen?! I haven't even read five yet!'.
As thanks for almost giving me a heart attack, chapter five read and reviewed
Quote:
Originally Posted by DezoPenguin
I'll say A since I can't see Fate skipping school and besides, talking to her friends is a good way to start exploring this mystery, and B because Vivio dragging a bunch of friends home without checking with her mothers first is a serious no-no.
And as long as we're talking about fics, here's the latest chapter of
Fate-chan's No-Title Adventure! ~Chapter 3~
Spoiler for Well, the story's progressing even if the name isn't:
Heh. I wish I had something more constructive to say beyond "Excellent as always." The plot is engaging with just a hint (a growing hint!) of creepy, and the characters are a joy in their interactions. Fate, of course, is just mind-breakingly adorable. I want to give her a big hug and tell her what a good lil' Enforcer she is. And Val is just about the best partner a rookie could ask for; one part mom, one part big sis, one part exasperated boss, with the two previous parts taking the edge off the third enough to make it helpful to the newbie instead of harmful.
I hope she doesn't die... RB's got me all paranoid now...
*sees a hand slipping in* *slaps it* "Owie!"
"No, don't." "But I wanna jo~iiin"
"It's not your time yet." *grabs* "W-wha---eh?!"
"Come on, back to the closet for you." "Nooo~" *locks familiar OC in closet*
Spoiler for Part 7 Vivio CYOA.Can anyone think of a good name for me?:
"Library?" Corona asked me at once, smiling from ear to ear. "I want to practice some on these new math problems we have, they seem like fun." Her words turned a few heads, but those that were in our class last year just passed by as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Rio hummed and thought about it, a strange sight coming from her. "Are you sure? Do you feel okay, Vivio? You took quite a blow earlier."
I nodded. "Passing out from the heat is embarrassing, but I don't think it'll bother me in the library, why?"
Corona looked shocked. "You don't remember?"
"Re...member?"
Rio put her hand on my forehead. "About lunch?"
"Lunch?" I reached up and took Rio's hand from my forehead, but accepted her grasp when she interlaced out fingers. "What do you mean?"
Corona looked impressed. "I wonder if that was intentional to make her forget?"
I looked at Corona now. "Wha-what?"
"Never mind, never mind!" Rio started walking, swinging our hands in a half arc as we left the classroom. "To the library!"
Einhart was waiting for us at the front gates and smiled when she saw me walking along with a cheerful Rio. "Are you feeling better?" she asked me while falling into step next to me when Corona made space for her.
"Lots, I'm just embarrassed I fainted on the first day of school. Normally I'm really good about being in the heat." Einhart blushed and looked at me a little closer, moving some of my hair away and looking at my temple. "Is something wrong?"
"No," Einhart shook her head.
With that confusing statement, I walked with my friends down the unfamiliar path leading into town before we came across the streets we knew that lead to the library. We could have taken a bus, but due to my insistence of being fine, we saved our money and walked the twenty-some minutes to our destination.
The cold air came over us at once and I let out a happy sigh at it. "Oh thank goodness, air conditioner." I hummed happily as we waved to the receptionist who knew us by name and continued to our normal spot. About half way there, I saw someone carrying a large stack of books that went over their head. The top one fell off and clattered onto the floor, making them struggle to try and pick it up without dropping the rest of the books.
"Coming?" Einhart and my friends turned back to look at me from a little ways ahead.
Spoiler for Vivid Life pt. 8:
"One second!" I called back before hurrying over to the person and picking up the book for them. "Here, should I help you carry them?" At that moment, the person peeked around the books and I couldn't help but grin. "Arf!"
"Hello, Vivio." She wagged her tail when I took half of the stack for her. My friends came back to me and after a few greetings, we were each carrying a few books while walking with our friend to the office she shared with Yuuno.
My oldest friend was at his desk, glasses slightly down on his nose as he looked at papers in front of him. "That stupid Chrono..." I heard him mutter to himself while his eyes scanned the document before him. When I cleared my throat he looked up and blinked a few times before realizing we were helping Arf carry the books. "Oh! Thank you, girls."
I smiled at him and was nudged by Rio, whose foot I quickly stomped on. She made a high pitched whine and turned to Corona, who accepted a hug and stroked her hair. "Hi, Yuuno-kun!" I greeted as if nothing had happened. "Chrono-san got you working again?"
"Yeah," the male leaned back in his desk and sighed. "He needs information on things that would normally take me a few days to get, but he needs it tomorrow. I'm going to be pulling an all nighter again."
"Want some help?" I asked at once. I had worked with him enough in the past to be known as 'The Little Librarian' all around the building. In fact, most everyone on the staff knew my name.
"We can help too," Corona offered at once. She had a summer job with the library last year and although she worked with Yuuno, she was more a go-for. Rio was nodded as well, showing a fang over her bottom lip. Einahrt-san, the poor girl, was looking a little out of place with this new turn out. Although she was smart, I knew being at the library wasn't her idea of time well spent.
"I appreciate it, but you just got out of your first day of school, right? I can't have you working part time already-"
I interrupted him with a happy tone. "The more you say no, the more time you're going to waste before you tell us what we should do." He gave a helpless smile at us and Arf hopped on the corner of the man's desk, tail wagging.
For the next three hours, I found myself scanning books left and right with magic circles all around me. Although I wasn't on par with Yuuno-kun, I was way more advanced than any of the other staff. I collected data and stored it in a monitor Kris brought up for me before it was sent to Corona. My light brown haired friend was sorting the data into several different types of monitors before having a finished product screen to the side. Rio was working between Yuuno and me, pre-scanning our information before it was sent to us so we wouldn't waste our time on needless things.
Einhart-san had the worst job, I think. She was running around with Arf collecting different books to bring to us to read. As soon as they dropped off a set, more were picked up to replace where they had got them before, only to repeat the cycle over and over again.
When the last hour ticked by, Yuuno called a stop to our operation and looked in satisfaction at the report that Corona had gathered. Although not near as strong as us on the battlefield, Corona was above even Yuuno at that age when it came to knowledge. The report made seemed to really impress Yuuno and he put his hand on her head to show his satisfaction. My friend's cheeks colored darkly and she looked down at the floor, stammering out a thank you.
Rio nudged me again and leaned over to whisper into my ear. "Oh look, you have competition."
I blushed as well and Corona met my eye before looking as if she just realized something and turning away. 'Ohhh....' I felt a twinge of guilt run through me, but it was dismissed when Yuuno-kun spoke to us all.
"Thanks a lot girls, you are all life savors." He brought up a monitor with his device and the screen split after he tapped on it a few times. A small display went over to each of us and I realized it was a small paycheck. I accepted it happily and giggled lightly when my friends stammered out a refusal before finally taking it as well.
After a quick hug to Arf and a slightly reluctant one to Yuuno after glancing at Corona again, we left the library and went into the darkening night.
"What now?" Rio asked while looking up.
Spoiler for Part 9:
I hummed. "Would you like to come over for dinner?" I smiled at them sweetly.
"Ooh, I would love to," Rio agreed at once.
Corona seemed a little more reserved, but still nodded and smiled. "Sure, Nanoha-san always makes great meals."
Einhart looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry, I have prior plans for the night." She didn't give us any more information than that, and walked backwards when we made it to the next block. "I'll have to catch up with you tomorrow, bye." With that, she jogged off, leaving us standing at the corner.
Rio placed a hand on her chin. "Einhart is acting strangely."
"She is," I agreed. "She normally bows before trotting off, and this isn't even where she splits off at, is it?"
"From the new school, I'm not certain, but I think she should have gone with us for a few more blocks..." Corona mused. We all looked at each other before nodding and running off after Einhart. We stayed a bit back as to not rise her suspicion and followed her secretly.
After a few blocks we huddled around a corner and watched her sit down at an outdoor table near a restaurant. She ordered a drink and we watched her for a few moments before a person came and sat down in front of her, making Einhart stand up and bow.
"Is that Nove?" I asked curiously. My older friend sat down with Einhart and started talking to each other. I couldn't hear what was being said, but Einhart was blushing rather hard. Nove was smiling at her and pointing out something on a tri-fold brochure. "What are they talking about?"
Spoiler for Vivid Life 10:
"Let's move in closer," Rio whispered to us just before crouching down and duck walking. "Da da da da-da-da da da da num num~"
I groaned while Corona giggled. "Is she humming the mission impossible theme song?"
"She is," Corona confirmed. We followed our friend while staying low to the ground and hid behind a table close by. "Can you hear?"
"Shhh," Rio hissed at me.
A waiter stood next to us and sweatdropped at the sight. "Can I... help you?"
"Cream soda"
"Vanilla coke."
"Cherry coke."
The man sighed and went to go get our drinks, leaving us to carefully listen to our friend while not 'spying' on her... Yeah, that sounded right.
"So, what do you think?" Nove asked curiously.
"I'm... I don't know what to say..." Einhart looked down at the paper before her and placed a hand to her chest. "I'm...really flattered."
Corona whispered over to me. "What is she looking at?"
"Shhh!" I scolded her with a finger to my lips.
Nove was smiling. "I'm going to do it next week, so could you give me an answer before then?"
"Y-yes," Einhart nodded rapidly, looking back at the brochure.
"Your drinks," A male voice sounded, making us all jump slightly. We all took our drinks and I looked at my cherry coke in the glass bottle. "Can I get a straw?" i asked up at him. He gave a lopsided smile and handed me a straw from a poush he was wearing. "Thank you." I placed it in my bottle and sipped.
Rio rolled her eyes. "Why do you drink from a bottle with a straw?"
I felt flustered at the question. "J-just pay attention to what's going on."
Einhart sighed and I noticed her leg was bouncing up and down rapidly, a clear sign that she was annoyed. "Now see here..." she muttered out before turning around and glaring at us. "What are you girls doing!?"
We all stood up in embarrassment, standing in front of the small circular table that we were clearly visible behind. "Ahahaha... We weren't spying on you." Rio laughed out.
Nove laughed. "Who said anything about spying?"
"We..." I scratched my head. "What are you guys up to?"
Einhart blushed and looked down before herself again. I think she was about to try and hide whatever pamphlet she had, but Nove plucked it from her and showed us. "I'm moving out into my own place, and asked Einhart to come with me."
The news made all of us give a small cheer of joy for our friend. We each took turns hugging her, making Einhart look as if she would pass out from all of the emotion shown to her. We all had worried about Einhart in our own way over the last few years since she lived alone. It seemed really lonely and I could tell that she always enjoyed staying over with me some weekends. Nove was basically her unofficial guardian as it was anyway, so living together would really benefit my friend.
Einhart was looking really scared now, cheeks red and eyes almost spinning. "Eep!" I fanned her. "Calm down, Einhart-san!"
Nove laughed and sipped on her drink. "I need to talk with her some more, so you girls run along now, okay?"
"Okaaaay," we all answered at the same time. With that, we each gave one more smile before waving and walking a few steps before were stopped by the waiter, who was asking us to pay for the drinks we each had. After we all panicked for a moment at the thought of accidentally stealing drinks, we all paid for our own and jogged away.
After wasting so much time, we decided to split for the night instead and I soon found myself walking to my house alone with Kris. When the door opened, Nanoha greeted me and shooed me upstairs to change into my house clothes. As I trotted up the stairs, I passed by my parents' room and saw Fate packing a suitcase. "Fate-mama?"
"Hmm?" She looked over her shoulder and smiled at me. "Hey, have a good day?"
I nodded. "Yeah. You leaving soon?"
"Tomorrow, I'll be gone for a few days." Fate informed me cheerfully. "I'm going to be working with Teana on a job here on Mid, so I'm really looking forward to it."
"Oh, I see." I nodded and smiled. With that, I continued over to my room to change.
~**~
I awoke the next morning with a long yawn. Nanoha was shaking me lightly with an amused smile on her face. "You over slept," she informed me pleasantly. "Hop up and get ready for school, okay."
"'kay," I agreed, closing my eyes again and hugging my pillow. I was just about to go back to sleep when I felt the covers being pulled off of me and being lifted into the air. "Mamaaaaaaaa." Nanoha sat me on my feet and held my shoulders as I wobbled a moment. "I'm up, I'm up." She laughed at me, ruffled my hair, and left to finish cooking breakfast.
Walking over to my dressor, I opened the top drawer and pondered what underwear to put on
A.) Prints
B.) Stripes
C.) A matching set Fate-mama picked.
It was very cute.
This is the first chapter I read of this fanfic, so exactly how old is Fate supposed to be in this fanfic? I imagine it's inbetween A's and StrikerS?
Finally, I have internet again! Anyways, here's to trying to catch up a bit with my backlog...
That...was a lot of backlog!
Quote:
Is this the same Yaris from “Steel Queen”?
Yay, somebody noticed!
Nope; Miranda Yaris from Stahlkonigin is, in fact, the six-year-old daughter Valentine Yaris keeps mentioning. Yep, their kids grew up to work together.
(Val does, however, have pretty much the same magical ability profile as her daughter, which is to say that she rips off Lucia from the Sega CD version of Lunar: Eternal Blue.)
Quote:
Ah, well, with that scene I only mentioned certain Shadows by name (my OCs, some of RB’s OCs, and also Lutecia), while assuming that the room is packed with other unnamed Shadows. I didn’t introduce Charlie earlier because he doesn’t pop up again in the story, while nearly all of the ones who are named do .
You may want to do some revisions there, b/c the impression is more one of "top-level strategy meeting" instead of "the auditorium is packed with everybody and their kid brother." Particularly, that one "list the cast" paragraph read like an introduction of the people present.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RadiantBeam
You know, this by itself would make a very epic title.
I'm having fun thinking up different ways to say that there isn't a title. What's really annoying is that inevitably the title will end up being some kind of annoying phrase that doesn't mean anything and isn't half as much fun as not having a title.
Quote:
He just killed someone, so I don't think many people will be sympathetic to hi, now. ^^;;;;;;; Even if he's under the influence of a Lost Logia that's mused with his mind.
No, he just zapped the cop into unconsciousness. Magic damage and all...So nobody's dead. Yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Demi.
It was very cute.
This is the first chapter I read of this fanfic, so exactly how old is Fate supposed to be in this fanfic? I imagine it's inbetween A's and StrikerS?
Right you are. She's eleven. It's right after she passed her Enforcer exam.
And...hm...so there's three different paths for Vivio. Choose your underwear and choose your fate, eh? Well, on that theme, then let's go with C.
2010-06-24, 21:41
Author
