Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

The phrasing kind of falls apart here, because "crash and burn" is not one word. In addition, from a grammatical standpoint, you should use double-quotes (") rather than single-quotes (') and periods always go inside of quotation marks*.

Admittedly, it was the best I could think of to try and describe Vivio's mindset, even though it doesn't completely fit what I was trying to go for. But it was the best description I could think of to really sort of describe what she was thinking at this point. And oh, um, they do? I've seen it vary depending on who does the writing...

Some days? I didn't realize there had been a delay between the end of "Sunrise" and the start of LDG...I must read these things more closely.

There's only a day or two so lapse, so it's not very major.

Meanwhile, I'm intrigued by the fact that Vivio hadn't been able to start thinking things through on her own. "Live as if nothing had happened" seems a very strange thing for her to do, given that, well, quite a lot happened, not only in terms of revelations about Lutecia's life, and in her own feelings about Lutecia, but also in what it meant for her in terms of her relationship with Nanoha and Fate (given that neither of them had any idea about Lutecia's NSIS status and the fact that they, especially Nanoha, have pretty strong opinions about it all; the fact that Nanoha [/I]hadn't apparently sat Vivio down for a long, long talk about Lutecia and where things were going from there is one reason why I didn't pick up on the fact that there had been some time between the two stories).

Of course, that might just be a writer's reason for justifying why Vivio is coming into this scene "cold," as it were.

Pretty much. I can adjust it if it really seems glaringly out of character, but my thought was that at this point, Vivio hasn't really had the chance to do much exploration on the topic, and things are still sort of touchy with her and Nanoha, so she doesn't want to stir up the wasp's nest again, so to speak.

I'm not sure that this is necessarily a question of "emotion vs. logic" so much as it is "reacting vs. acting." That is, in "Shadow," Vivio is purely reacting to what she sees in front of her--Lutecia's emotional crisis. But so long as she just keeps treating the symptoms, and not actually looking at the source of the problems--that is, taking her own course of action to attack the real, underlying issues--nothing will really ever get solved. So she's actually thinking clearly and looking at the situation, but I think mislabeling it.

Watch this. It'll come back to bite her.

Not 100% following this part. I can see why Vivio wouldn't want to provoke Lutecia into Spilling All, whatever "All" may be, in front of Victor, Chrono, Nanoha, and Fate. I'm not quite sure what "had never been that kind of person, anyway" means, though. I mean, I thought Vivio was exactly the kind of person who wanted to get right to the heart of things and was big on honest and open communication about feelings, Nanoha-like. Or do you mean, "that kind of person" in terms of "someone who uses another's vulnerable moments to get them to reveal parts of themselves," which I can see why you'd say Vivio isn't such a person. But it needs a little better definition.

Damn, what I meant didn't come across as clearly as I'd hoped it would. What I meant by saying Vivio 'isn't that kind of person' is that she's not the type to take advantage of someone in emotional distress and turmoil to try and get her own answers out of it. For example, she could certainly press the right buttons on Lutecia now, when she's open and raw and hurting, and get pretty much everything out of her that she could ever want to know; but she won't because she isn't like that. I might need to reword that section a bit, if it isn't coming across as clearly as I'd intended.

EDIT: Pageclaim for critique!

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

...I disagree on both additional counts. (Or all three; it feels more like style than grammar)

Periods always go inside of quotation marks when the quote is a complete sentence. Less than that, and you can find it either way. Personally, I don't put the period inside something that's a fragmented quote. It makes no sense (the period is in no way associated with the quotation), and few people remember that rule.

Single quotes are proper for emphasis or highlighting terms. Though as a style choice I'd probably have used italics.

*cracks knuckles* Going to have to cite your sources on that, mi amigo, because I'd strongly disagree.

The rule is, "periods and commas go inside closing quotation marks." (The St. Martin's Handbook, 3rd Edition, p. 504, St. Martin's Press, 1995) As a matter of usage, I've seen it done the other way all over the place; I agree that people don't know the correct usage (I myself didn't even encounter the rule until Advance Legal Writing as a law-school third-year), but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it right when you do know the rule. The ones who don't know won't care, and the ones who do know will spot it when it's wrong.

The same source (pp.499-500) notes that "In American English...single quotation marks enclose a quotation within a quotation." Double quotations are used otherwise, even for titles and definitions (p. 502) and ironical usage and coinages (p. 503). I do note that Wikipedia agrees with you in that it considers the single/double quote usage not a fast rule but a stylistic point between American and British English, though.

I agree that italics for emphasis would work just as well as quotation marks for ironical usage in those sentences (actually, quotation marks should never be used for highlighting terms), and probably better, though.

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

*cracks knuckles* Going to have to cite your sources on that, mi amigo, because I'd strongly disagree.

...Are you threatening me?

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

The rule is, "periods and commas go inside closing quotation marks." (The St. Martin's Handbook, 3rd Edition, p. 504, St. Martin's Press, 1995) As a matter of usage, I've seen it done the other way all over the place; I agree that people don't know the correct usage (I myself didn't even encounter the rule until Advance Legal Writing as a law-school third-year), but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it right when you do know the rule. The ones who don't know won't care, and the ones who do know will spot it when it's wrong.

You're thinking like a non-fiction writer. When writing non-fiction, the rules of the area in which you are working - I'll go out on a limb and say you're used to Law - are immutable. But that's not true in fiction. In fiction, it's generally a question of style. As far as punctuation is concerned, I believe that whenever it's a direct speaking quote, the rule works like you say, as that's what the character said. But if a character or the narrator is thinking about something short that somebody said, it might be in the middle of the sentence.

Like if we were having this argument in fiction, and you came back making fun of the concept that I've introduced about "style"... you'd quote it, but probably not put the punctuation inside.

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

The same source (pp.499-500) notes that "In American English...single quotation marks enclose a quotation within a quotation." Double quotations are used otherwise, even for titles and definitions (p. 502) and ironical usage and coinages (p. 503). I do note that Wikipedia agrees with you in that it considers the single/double quote usage not a fast rule but a stylistic point between American and British English, though.

I agree that italics for emphasis would work just as well as quotation marks for ironical usage in those sentences (actually, quotation marks should never be used for highlighting terms), and probably better, though.

In fiction, there are lots of things that are more like style than grammar. Things that not only feel acceptable, but I've seen in various books I've read - some better than others.

You're a hardcore Prescriptivist, aren't you?

And there's no style guide for fiction writing. So there are no relevant sources to cite. Only opinion and experience.

(And... I've never actually heard of your stylebook >_< Is it pointed at Law students?)

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

...Are you threatening me?

If he is, I need a minute to set up the betting pool.

[Kuroi Hadou]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

If he is, I need a minute to set up the betting pool.

Count me out of this one. I have a vested interest in both parties coming out intact.

[Megaolix]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for MD returns!:

“So where did that peon go?” asked Material-D while she cooled herself down with her fan.

“Yuuno-san said that Sette requested his assistance in investigating some sensor distortion outside,” said Material-S, recalling the brief telepathic conversation they had after she had exited the bath with her sisters twenty minutes ago. “They should be able to return by dinner time.”

“Oi, we should be paying attention to Ms. Tour Guide over here. If we can’t answer the end of tour quiz, we won’t get extra dessert!” exclaimed Material-L.

“Extra dessert? Did my mom promise you that?” Lutecia had to fight the urge to moan at the unfairness of that arrangement. She had to pull a lot of weight around the house just to earn her extra dessert!

“Oh yeah! Peanut buster parfait, here I come!”

She merely sighed once before resuming the tour of her resort. “Over here is a training stage and obstacle course for anyone who wants a physical or magical workout. There’s a lot of space to move around so you can have a good solid practice session.”

While Lutecia continued to lead them around, she started taking note of her current situation. Right now, Garyu was back at the springs doing another quick cleaning so that meant that she was more or less alone with the trio. Of course, he would be able to arrive at her side within seconds if she willed it and she figured that she should be able to do okay by herself long enough for him to get here. And her mother is still quick on her feet for a woman of her age. If things start heating up, she would be able to get out of the danger zone quickly.

Seikou raised an eyebrow in mild fascination. “You built this yourself?”

“Of course! It took a lot of work but this obstacle course is guaranteed to get your heart pounding and your sweat glands to go into overdrive! Bwahaha-” Lutecia suddenly stopped upon noticing Yami’s glare and switched up her laugh to the other one that she recently learned courtesy of the Lord of Darkness. “Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!”

“It’s like a big jungle gym! Hehehehe!”

“Eh?” A quick glance showed that Rai was bouncing around the area without even feeling any sort of strain. She was wearing that tight leather purple bodysuit which wasn’t ideal workout attire and yet, she was moving around the course with ease. “I… wha…? I mean… wow?”

“You don’t sound too happy,” noted the Starlight Destroyer.

“Well, it stings a bit when you see someone easily master an obstacle course the first time around. Especially one that I built,” grumbled Lutecia.

The Fate replica paused for a moment while balancing her feet on a thin rail. “Hey! Why don’t I let Kero-chan out here to play?”

Seikou thought about it before shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Our hosts probably wouldn’t appreciate Cerberus running around unchecked. Plus Cerberus is the type of summon who would prefer to be doing something useful. He didn’t look too happy when you called him just to learn how to roll over.”

“My lesson plan didn’t include just rolling over! There was also the fetching lessons and how to look like a realistic corpse to play dead!” shouted back Rai.

“Is the reason why you want to summon Cerberus right now is so you can have a playmate?”

“I guess so. I mean, it’s gonna be boring until dinner time comes,” said Material-L as she flipped over to another railing in a carefree fashion.

“If that’s the case, how about I play tag with you instead?” asked the Nanoha replica.

“Yay! Oh, wait…” The blue haired woman frowned. “You’re normally a slow poke compared to me so how are you gonna catch me when you’re the oni?”

“Just let me worry about that,” replied Seikou.

“You don’t mind keeping her occupied?” asked Yami from behind that fan of hers.

The red clad Material-S looked at her friend. “Someone has to make sure she doesn’t wind up in trouble. Besides, I can use this opportunity to practice some other skills I had not used in some time.”

This earned a slight shrug from the Hayate replica. “Do as you like then.”

“So that means you two will stay here for the time being? If that’s the case, I’ll swing by to escort you to the dining room later when dinner’s ready.”

“I would appreciate that very much, Ms. Lutecia,” said the Starlight Destroyer as she bowed politely.

“Since that’s settled, I guess you’re sticking with me.” The younger Alpine did send a mental note to Garyu to stay within the vicinity of the training area to keep an eye on the two of them. While Lutecia took her leave with Yami, Seikou activated her device and her Barrier Jacket and turned to the Fate replica.

“Let’s go all out and work up a good appetite. What do you say to that, Rai-chan?”

“Alrighty then…!” After calling forth Vulnificus and her own Barrier Jacket, she started moving back quickly. “Catch me if you can, you Red Oni!”

Seikou merely channelled magical energy into her feet, causing red particles to glow around the boots. “Accel Turn!”

It has been some time since she worked with that type of support magic. Hopefully, this session would allow her to feel more comfortable working with her speed spells again.

**********

“This is my library. It’s well stocked with all sorts of books of interest.”

Material-D snorted while her eyes darted from bookshelf to bookshelf. “Books of interest? You mean full of romance trash that has no bearing in reality?”

Lutecia raised an eyebrow. “What would you define as romance trash?”

“Like how a red string of fate binds two people who previously never met or had any sort of interpersonal connection. Then boom, they’re declaring each other as soul mates or some trash like that,” said Yami.

“If that’s the case, then you can rest easy. That type of literature has no place on my bookshelves as I have more sophisticated reading preferences.”

“So you don’t find any interest in a story that features a pairing which has one member of the couple being aware of emotion beyond friendship in her significant other even at the age of six years old?”

The younger Alpine merely twitched. “I really have no idea what you’re trying to find but I assure you that I would just find that concept implausible, as well as disturbing. Now will you need any help finding what you want to read here? Because I have other matters to attend to since this place won’t maintain itself.”

“Fair enough. You’re dismissed.” While Lutecia slipped away (not before leaving a few insect summons to act as surveillance), the Hayate replica shuffled off to the nearest bookshelf to explore what her host did place on the shelves. She noted that a number of titles were history books which covered different eras of Ancient Belka. For a moment, she wasn’t sure where to begin until she saw a particular object that seemed to be out of place.

It was some sort of electronic data storage module. Small, rectangular… and labelled as ‘Land Combat Exhibition MC 0078: Team Blue (Yagami family) vs. Team Red (Takamachi family and friends).’

At that moment, all thoughts of spending the time away reading vanished from her mind. She had something more interesting to look into.

Uh-oh... Seikou saw a picture and said nothing yet, but Yami is going to ask for an explanation... Let's hope Yuuno will be back by then.

Or worse, she's going to decide the Wolkens should be hers or to make her own knight group.

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

...Are you threatening me?

Only in an Internet-argumentative sense...

You're thinking like a non-fiction writer. When writing non-fiction, the rules of the area in which you are working - I'll go out on a limb and say you're used to Law - are immutable. But that's not true in fiction. In fiction, it's generally a question of style. As far as punctuation is concerned, I believe that whenever it's a direct speaking quote, the rule works like you say, as that's what the character said. But if a character or the narrator is thinking about something short that somebody said, it might be in the middle of the sentence.

Like if we were having this argument in fiction, and you came back making fun of the concept that I've introduced about "style"... you'd quote it, but probably not put the punctuation inside.

Well...no, I wouldn't, because the period would either be omitted entirely or replaced by a comma.

But on to relevant on-topic matters, it's true that a wide variety of fiction writers make stylistic choices to write in very, very ungrammatical ways. But those choices aren't made out of an ignorance of grammatical rules, but in order to make specific artistic points by choosing to violate them. And if you don't know what the rules are, you can't make those points. When Nyx Smith chooses to write Shadowrun novels in the present tense, he's expressing something about the way he wants to present his story, whether it represents the immediacy of the action in a near-future hypertech setting or whether he just likes the way it sounds. But he's a professional author who submitted his work to professional editors and justified those choices to them on that kind of basic. When a fourteen-year-old kid writing fanfiction does it because he didn't pay attention in English class, it means something very different.

In other words, the rules don't change. The ability to violate those rules as a matter of style changes.

You're a hardcore Prescriptivist, aren't you?

Pretty much, yes. It comes from writing in law. When I have to construct a document where X needs to mean exactly X and not Y or Z, and in which if a problem erupts there'll be an expert on the other side claiming that X does in fact mean Z and that if my client had meant to say X then he would have put a comma or a preposition somewhere else...yeah, attention to rules of language (and rules of construction) is pretty much vital.

(Obviously, usage differs widely and over time can actually redefine the rules...for example, how many times does the slang term "fic" get used here in this thread? But nonetheless...yes, I am. I mean, I type in complete sentences and spell out words on the Internet! How Prescriptivist is that? )

And there's no style guide for fiction writing. So there are no relevant sources to cite. Only opinion and experience.

(And... I've never actually heard of your stylebook >_< Is it pointed at Law students?)

Nope, college students generally; it happened to be the one used at UT Austin. (I always cite it since other people will have other style guides, and the glory of the English language is that the experts--to say nothing of the actual users--don't always agree.)

But ultimately, I disagree with your fundamental assertion that there's no style guide for fiction. Fiction, just like non-fiction, is communication in a chosen language, and languages have rules. If you choose to step outside those rules for whatever reason, then you should know you're doing it and have a reason for doing it. Consider, for example, the plethora of books out there these days published by the vanity press in which nobody's looked at them as an editor or proofreader and the writer never knew what they were doing in the first place. Is the reader going to think the misplaced periods, sentence fragments, unusual capitalization, paragraphs split in the middle of sentences, misspellings, and misuse of words as "style," or are they going to say that this person needs an editor?

Applying this logic to the specific case of RadiantBeam's story; as a general rule she uses periods, commas, quotation marks, etc. in the fashion prescribed by American English usage. Thus when she deviates from that in a couple of places, I assume that she wanted to use them properly and either didn't know what the rule was or had just typoed, ergo I pointed it out.

[Kuroi Hadou]

Guys, can't we all just get along?

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

Guys, can't we all just get along?

If we did, there would be no internet.

[Kuroi Hadou]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

If we did, there would be no internet.

I meant here in this thread only. Usually we do a pretty good job of it; what the hell happened?

[Nanya01]

Red 1-30

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Red 31:

Back on Earth, the following morning...

Lina raised an eyebrow as she saw Fate and a young, redheaded boy standing by the front door. "You know, Fate, I hope that this won't become a habit of yours."

"Well, I thought it was a custom or something around here to bring people home with you." Fate blinked as Lina suddenly grabbed her stomach, laughing at that. "Mother?"

"I'm fine, I just found that funny." Smiling, Lina walked up and looked at the boy as he clung to Fate's leg tightly. "Well, hello, what's your name?"

The boy's face turned as red as his hair as he saw the gentleness in the woman's eyes. "E...Erio..." His eyes widened as she reached out and ruffled his hair.

"Well then, Erio," Lina smiled as he buried his face in Fate's leg, "you want to get washed up for breakfast?" The boy turned his head and perked up. "Seeing as I don't know how much you'll eat, I'll just have to make sure that there's more food than any of us can eat."

She laughed as she heard his stomach grumble. "Well then, shall we eat?" Erio and Fate both nodded and Fate led Erio to the sink to wash up. "So, Fate, did you get that one thing taken care of that you wanted?"

Fate stopped mid-step and groaned. "I forgot." After all the excitement with Erio and being told that she was responsible for him, a think like getting her outfit changed seemed really minor.

Lina shook her head and chuckled. "Don't worry about it, you can do that at any time."

Fate nodded and smiled softly as she helped Erio wash his face.

Lina shook her head. Well, this was going to be an interesting morning.

(---)

In Dimensional Space...

"Um, ma'am..." Leti raised an eyebrow as she looked at the bridge hand who was turning to look at her, his face pale. "I got bad news."

"What?"

"A high class X magical signature has appeared."

Leti's pupils shrank as that piece of information sank into her head. "What world?"

"Non-Administrated World 500."

Leti frowned, technically that world was out of the Bureau's jurisdiction, but if she didn't do something, then she would never hear the end of it. "Very well..."

She just knew that this was going to come back and bite her in the ass somehow.

(---)

Grimacing at the noise from a screen that appeared above his bed, Chrono cracked an eye open and tried to move his left arm, only to find it pinned under a warm and soft female body, his right arm was likewise pinned. "Filia, Amy, I love you two a lot too, but if I don't answer this soon, the video's going to turn on and people will see you both naked." He wasn't surprised as they moved and allowed his arms movement. He was pretty thankful for that, actually, his arms were starting to both go numb and cramp up from the two of them using them as pillows. "Chrono here." He pushed the audio only button.

"Enforcer Chrono, this is Admiral Leti."

"What is it?" Chrono asked, his mind now fully awake.

"A powerfully strong X class signature has appeared on Non-Administered Planet 500. I need you to gather a team."

"How long can you give me?"

"Two hours."

Chrono nodded and bit his lip as the screen turned off. "A team, huh?" If it was X rank, then it had to be a Mazoku, and high X ranks were reserved for the ones who could devastate entire planets with ease.

Whatever the case was, he just hoped that none of them would be upset about being asked to go on what was, basically, a suicide mission.

Really, X ranked missions were called A.Y.N. missions. Anyone willing to go on them had to either be supremely powerful or nuts.

"What are you going to do, Chrono?" Filia asked, her face a worried mask.

Chrono got off the bed and started to gather his clothes. He'd wash up quick and then make some phone calls. "I'm going to ask Lina, Hayate and their families if they'll lend me their strength again."

"We can..." Chrono turned to face her and shook his head. Amy narrowed her eyes at him. "Chrono..."

"The last time we were there, you nearly died, Amy, you can't..."

"I'm going and you can't stop me, besides, you'll need someone on the ship who's been to that planet before." Amy crossed her arms under her breasts. "Filia?"

Filia shook her head. "I'm going to stay here." She looked away, her face flush. "I still haven't been feeling well lately." Turning to look at Amy, Filia frowned softly. "Actually, now that I think about it, you've been ill too."

"BAH!" Amy shook her head. "Just because I'm a little sick, don't expect me to take it easy. If there's danger, I've got to be there to make sure that the team has proper support."

Chrono nodded, internally grateful. "Just be careful." He blushed as Amy suddenly lunged forward and hugged him from behind. The feel of her naked breasts to his bare back was quite pleasant. "Amy, if you don't let go, we're going to get into trouble."

Amy nodded and let go of him. "Come on, we need to get ready." Filia smiled as the two went to get washed up, before sighing and flopping back onto the bed. It didn't take her long to fall back to sleep. As worried as she was, she was exhausted.

After all, she had only gotten to sleep an hour ago.

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Only in an Internet-argumentative sense...

I have a hard time debating friends. Please don't make it any harder than it already is.

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Well...no, I wouldn't, because the period would either be omitted entirely or replaced by a comma.

But on to relevant on-topic matters, it's true that a wide variety of fiction writers make stylistic choices to write in very, very ungrammatical ways. But those choices aren't made out of an ignorance of grammatical rules, but in order to make specific artistic points by choosing to violate them. And if you don't know what the rules are, you can't make those points. When Nyx Smith chooses to write Shadowrun novels in the present tense, he's expressing something about the way he wants to present his story, whether it represents the immediacy of the action in a near-future hypertech setting or whether he just likes the way it sounds. But he's a professional author who submitted his work to professional editors and justified those choices to them on that kind of basic. When a fourteen-year-old kid writing fanfiction does it because he didn't pay attention in English class, it means something very different.

In other words, the rules don't change. The ability to violate those rules as a matter of style changes.

Rules do change, but I wasn't intending on making a distinction between Prescriptivists and Descriptivists and Linguistics here.

I have actually read somewhere (What, I was supposed to prepare for this debate?) that present tense is the best way to tell stories, and the piece then spelled out why they thought that way. It comes down to the fact that there are style choices to make. Tense and viewpoint are particularly common ones.

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Pretty much, yes. It comes from writing in law. When I have to construct a document where X needs to mean exactly X and not Y or Z, and in which if a problem erupts there'll be an expert on the other side claiming that X does in fact mean Z and that if my client had meant to say X then he would have put a comma or a preposition somewhere else...yeah, attention to rules of language (and rules of construction) is pretty much vital.

(Obviously, usage differs widely and over time can actually redefine the rules...for example, how many times does the slang term "fic" get used here in this thread? But nonetheless...yes, I am. I mean, I type in complete sentences and spell out words on the Internet! How Prescriptivist is that? )

By that definition, I'm a Prescriptivist too. And I work in an environment that's stricter than yours as far as grammar and usage is concerned. Because if I deviate, I create a bug in the best case, and it doesn't even compile in the worst. But that's not what we're talking about, is it?

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Nope, college students generally; it happened to be the one used at UT Austin. (I always cite it since other people will have other style guides, and the glory of the English language is that the experts--to say nothing of the actual users--don't always agree.)

But ultimately, I disagree with your fundamental assertion that there's no style guide for fiction. Fiction, just like non-fiction, is communication in a chosen language, and languages have rules. If you choose to step outside those rules for whatever reason, then you should know you're doing it and have a reason for doing it. Consider, for example, the plethora of books out there these days published by the vanity press in which nobody's looked at them as an editor or proofreader and the writer never knew what they were doing in the first place. Is the reader going to think the misplaced periods, sentence fragments, unusual capitalization, paragraphs split in the middle of sentences, misspellings, and misuse of words as "style," or are they going to say that this person needs an editor?

It's about choices. Either you're misinterpreting me in a small way or we agree on a point: You need to know the rules first. But in my fiction writing, I break the rules that don't make any sense.

Like, two spaces after a period is still a "rule" according to some guides. And it's really dumb on modern computers to continue to do that.

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Applying this logic to the specific case of RadiantBeam's story; as a general rule she uses periods, commas, quotation marks, etc. in the fashion prescribed by American English usage. Thus when she deviates from that in a couple of places, I assume that she wanted to use them properly and either didn't know what the rule was or had just typoed, ergo I pointed it out.

Why you pointed it out is fair: If she's going to do that, it's best if she knows all of the nuance involved.

But if I ended up with short word/phrase in quotes like that, I'd punctuate outside. This is particularly true with question marks, by the way. If the quote is a question, it's inside; if the questioner is using the quote as part of the question and the quote is not a question itself, I will forever maintain that the mark goes outside.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

Guys, can't we all just get along?

Now, now, they mean well, Kuroi. Believe me, this isn't an argument in the least. It's just a fun debate between friends, is all.

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Applying this logic to the specific case of RadiantBeam's story; as a general rule she uses periods, commas, quotation marks, etc. in the fashion prescribed by American English usage. Thus when she deviates from that in a couple of places, I assume that she wanted to use them properly and either didn't know what the rule was or had just typoed, ergo I pointed it out.

Admittedly, I don't know what the rule is, because I wasn't taught much of anything about it. So I'm supposed to put the mark over the period, too? I might just make it in italics instead to drive the point home, but I'm curious so that if I try to ever use it again, I don't mess it up like I did this time.

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for MD returns!:

“So where did that peon go?” asked Material-D while she cooled herself down with her fan.

“Yuuno-san said that Sette requested his assistance in investigating some sensor distortion outside,” said Material-S, recalling the brief telepathic conversation they had after she had exited the bath with her sisters twenty minutes ago. “They should be able to return by dinner time.”

“Oi, we should be paying attention to Ms. Tour Guide over here. If we can’t answer the end of tour quiz, we won’t get extra dessert!” exclaimed Material-L.

“Extra dessert? Did my mom promise you that?” Lutecia had to fight the urge to moan at the unfairness of that arrangement. She had to pull a lot of weight around the house just to earn her extra dessert!

“Oh yeah! Peanut buster parfait, here I come!”

She merely sighed once before resuming the tour of her resort. “Over here is a training stage and obstacle course for anyone who wants a physical or magical workout. There’s a lot of space to move around so you can have a good solid practice session.”

While Lutecia continued to lead them around, she started taking note of her current situation. Right now, Garyu was back at the springs doing another quick cleaning so that meant that she was more or less alone with the trio. Of course, he would be able to arrive at her side within seconds if she willed it and she figured that she should be able to do okay by herself long enough for him to get here. And her mother is still quick on her feet for a woman of her age. If things start heating up, she would be able to get out of the danger zone quickly.

Seikou raised an eyebrow in mild fascination. “You built this yourself?”

“Of course! It took a lot of work but this obstacle course is guaranteed to get your heart pounding and your sweat glands to go into overdrive! Bwahaha-” Lutecia suddenly stopped upon noticing Yami’s glare and switched up her laugh to the other one that she recently learned courtesy of the Lord of Darkness. “Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!”

“It’s like a big jungle gym! Hehehehe!”

“Eh?” A quick glance showed that Rai was bouncing around the area without even feeling any sort of strain. She was wearing that tight leather purple bodysuit which wasn’t ideal workout attire and yet, she was moving around the course with ease. “I… wha…? I mean… wow?”

“You don’t sound too happy,” noted the Starlight Destroyer.

“Well, it stings a bit when you see someone easily master an obstacle course the first time around. Especially one that I built,” grumbled Lutecia.

The Fate replica paused for a moment while balancing her feet on a thin rail. “Hey! Why don’t I let Kero-chan out here to play?”

Seikou thought about it before shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Our hosts probably wouldn’t appreciate Cerberus running around unchecked. Plus Cerberus is the type of summon who would prefer to be doing something useful. He didn’t look too happy when you called him just to learn how to roll over.”

“My lesson plan didn’t include just rolling over! There was also the fetching lessons and how to look like a realistic corpse to play dead!” shouted back Rai.

“Is the reason why you want to summon Cerberus right now is so you can have a playmate?”

“I guess so. I mean, it’s gonna be boring until dinner time comes,” said Material-L as she flipped over to another railing in a carefree fashion.

“If that’s the case, how about I play tag with you instead?” asked the Nanoha replica.

“Yay! Oh, wait…” The blue haired woman frowned. “You’re normally a slow poke compared to me so how are you gonna catch me when you’re the oni?”

“Just let me worry about that,” replied Seikou.

“You don’t mind keeping her occupied?” asked Yami from behind that fan of hers.

The red clad Material-S looked at her friend. “Someone has to make sure she doesn’t wind up in trouble. Besides, I can use this opportunity to practice some other skills I had not used in some time.”

This earned a slight shrug from the Hayate replica. “Do as you like then.”

“So that means you two will stay here for the time being? If that’s the case, I’ll swing by to escort you to the dining room later when dinner’s ready.”

“I would appreciate that very much, Ms. Lutecia,” said the Starlight Destroyer as she bowed politely.

“Since that’s settled, I guess you’re sticking with me.” The younger Alpine did send a mental note to Garyu to stay within the vicinity of the training area to keep an eye on the two of them. While Lutecia took her leave with Yami, Seikou activated her device and her Barrier Jacket and turned to the Fate replica.

“Let’s go all out and work up a good appetite. What do you say to that, Rai-chan?”

“Alrighty then…!” After calling forth Vulnificus and her own Barrier Jacket, she started moving back quickly. “Catch me if you can, you Red Oni!”

Seikou merely channelled magical energy into her feet, causing red particles to glow around the boots. “Accel Turn!”

It has been some time since she worked with that type of support magic. Hopefully, this session would allow her to feel more comfortable working with her speed spells again.

**********

“This is my library. It’s well stocked with all sorts of books of interest.”

Material-D snorted while her eyes darted from bookshelf to bookshelf. “Books of interest? You mean full of romance trash that has no bearing in reality?”

Lutecia raised an eyebrow. “What would you define as romance trash?”

“Like how a red string of fate binds two people who previously never met or had any sort of interpersonal connection. Then boom, they’re declaring each other as soul mates or some trash like that,” said Yami.

“If that’s the case, then you can rest easy. That type of literature has no place on my bookshelves as I have more sophisticated reading preferences.”

“So you don’t find any interest in a story that features a pairing which has one member of the couple being aware of emotion beyond friendship in her significant other even at the age of six years old?”

The younger Alpine merely twitched. “I really have no idea what you’re trying to find but I assure you that I would just find that concept implausible, as well as disturbing. Now will you need any help finding what you want to read here? Because I have other matters to attend to since this place won’t maintain itself.”

“Fair enough. You’re dismissed.” While Lutecia slipped away (not before leaving a few insect summons to act as surveillance), the Hayate replica shuffled off to the nearest bookshelf to explore what her host did place on the shelves. She noted that a number of titles were history books which covered different eras of Ancient Belka. For a moment, she wasn’t sure where to begin until she saw a particular object that seemed to be out of place.

It was some sort of electronic data storage module. Small, rectangular… and labelled as ‘Land Combat Exhibition MC 0078: Team Blue (Yagami family) vs. Team Red (Takamachi family and friends).’

At that moment, all thoughts of spending the time away reading vanished from her mind. She had something more interesting to look into.

I see they're all getting ready for the upcoming battle in various ways, intentional or not.

Nice jab at a certain pairing at the end there

[staplesdex2]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Red 1-30

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Red 31:

Back on Earth, the following morning...

Lina raised an eyebrow as she saw Fate and a young, redheaded boy standing by the front door. "You know, Fate, I hope that this won't become a habit of yours."

"Well, I thought it was a custom or something around here to bring people home with you." Fate blinked as Lina suddenly grabbed her stomach, laughing at that. "Mother?"

"I'm fine, I just found that funny." Smiling, Lina walked up and looked at the boy as he clung to Fate's leg tightly. "Well, hello, what's your name?"

The boy's face turned as red as his hair as he saw the gentleness in the woman's eyes. "E...Erio..." His eyes widened as she reached out and ruffled his hair.

"Well then, Erio," Lina smiled as he buried his face in Fate's leg, "you want to get washed up for breakfast?" The boy turned his head and perked up. "Seeing as I don't know how much you'll eat, I'll just have to make sure that there's more food than any of us can eat."

She laughed as she heard his stomach grumble. "Well then, shall we eat?" Erio and Fate both nodded and Fate led Erio to the sink to wash up. "So, Fate, did you get that one thing taken care of that you wanted?"

Fate stopped mid-step and groaned. "I forgot." After all the excitement with Erio and being told that she was responsible for him, a think like getting her outfit changed seemed really minor.

Lina shook her head and chuckled. "Don't worry about it, you can do that at any time."

Fate nodded and smiled softly as she helped Erio wash his face.

Lina shook her head. Well, this was going to be an interesting morning.

(---)

In Dimensional Space...

"Um, ma'am..." Leti raised an eyebrow as she looked at the bridge hand who was turning to look at her, his face pale. "I got bad news."

"What?"

"A high class X magical signature has appeared."

Leti's pupils shrank as that piece of information sank into her head. "What world?"

"Non-Administrated World 500."

Leti frowned, technically that world was out of the Bureau's jurisdiction, but if she didn't do something, then she would never hear the end of it. "Very well..."

She just knew that this was going to come back and bite her in the ass somehow.

(---)

Grimacing at the noise from a screen that appeared above his bed, Chrono cracked an eye open and tried to move his left arm, only to find it pinned under a warm and soft female body, his right arm was likewise pinned. "Filia, Amy, I love you two a lot too, but if I don't answer this soon, the video's going to turn on and people will see you both naked." He wasn't surprised as they moved and allowed his arms movement. He was pretty thankful for that, actually, his arms were starting to both go numb and cramp up from the two of them using them as pillows. "Chrono here." He pushed the audio only button.

"Enforcer Chrono, this is Admiral Leti."

"What is it?" Chrono asked, his mind now fully awake.

"A powerfully strong X class signature has appeared on Non-Administered Planet 500. I need you to gather a team."

"How long can you give me?"

"Two hours."

Chrono nodded and bit his lip as the screen turned off. "A team, huh?" If it was X rank, then it had to be a Mazoku, and high X ranks were reserved for the ones who could devastate entire planets with ease.

Whatever the case was, he just hoped that none of them would be upset about being asked to go on what was, basically, a suicide mission.

Really, X ranked missions were called A.Y.N. missions. Anyone willing to go on them had to either be supremely powerful or nuts.

"What are you going to do, Chrono?" Filia asked, her face a worried mask.

Chrono got off the bed and started to gather his clothes. He'd wash up quick and then make some phone calls. "I'm going to ask Lina, Hayate and their families if they'll lend me their strength again."

"We can..." Chrono turned to face her and shook his head. Amy narrowed her eyes at him. "Chrono..."

"The last time we were there, you nearly died, Amy, you can't..."

"I'm going and you can't stop me, besides, you'll need someone on the ship who's been to that planet before." Amy crossed her arms under her breasts. "Filia?"

Filia shook her head. "I'm going to stay here." She looked away, her face flush. "I still haven't been feeling well lately." Turning to look at Amy, Filia frowned softly. "Actually, now that I think about it, you've been ill too."

"BAH!" Amy shook her head. "Just because I'm a little sick, don't expect me to take it easy. If there's danger, I've got to be there to make sure that the team has proper support."

Chrono nodded, internally grateful. "Just be careful." He blushed as Amy suddenly lunged forward and hugged him from behind. The feel of her naked breasts to his bare back was quite pleasant. "Amy, if you don't let go, we're going to get into trouble."

Amy nodded and let go of him. "Come on, we need to get ready." Filia smiled as the two went to get washed up, before sighing and flopping back onto the bed. It didn't take her long to fall back to sleep. As worried as she was, she was exhausted.

After all, she had only gotten to sleep an hour ago.

The only thing I can say is that Chrono got lucky .

[shiroi mahotsukai]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Red 1-30

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Red 31:

Back on Earth, the following morning...

Lina raised an eyebrow as she saw Fate and a young, redheaded boy standing by the front door. "You know, Fate, I hope that this won't become a habit of yours."

"Well, I thought it was a custom or something around here to bring people home with you." Fate blinked as Lina suddenly grabbed her stomach, laughing at that. "Mother?"

"I'm fine, I just found that funny." Smiling, Lina walked up and looked at the boy as he clung to Fate's leg tightly. "Well, hello, what's your name?"

The boy's face turned as red as his hair as he saw the gentleness in the woman's eyes. "E...Erio..." His eyes widened as she reached out and ruffled his hair.

"Well then, Erio," Lina smiled as he buried his face in Fate's leg, "you want to get washed up for breakfast?" The boy turned his head and perked up. "Seeing as I don't know how much you'll eat, I'll just have to make sure that there's more food than any of us can eat."

She laughed as she heard his stomach grumble. "Well then, shall we eat?" Erio and Fate both nodded and Fate led Erio to the sink to wash up. "So, Fate, did you get that one thing taken care of that you wanted?"

Fate stopped mid-step and groaned. "I forgot." After all the excitement with Erio and being told that she was responsible for him, a think like getting her outfit changed seemed really minor.

Lina shook her head and chuckled. "Don't worry about it, you can do that at any time."

Fate nodded and smiled softly as she helped Erio wash his face.

Lina shook her head. Well, this was going to be an interesting morning.

(---)

In Dimensional Space...

"Um, ma'am..." Leti raised an eyebrow as she looked at the bridge hand who was turning to look at her, his face pale. "I got bad news."

"What?"

"A high class X magical signature has appeared."

Leti's pupils shrank as that piece of information sank into her head. "What world?"

"Non-Administrated World 500."

Leti frowned, technically that world was out of the Bureau's jurisdiction, but if she didn't do something, then she would never hear the end of it. "Very well..."

She just knew that this was going to come back and bite her in the ass somehow.

(---)

Grimacing at the noise from a screen that appeared above his bed, Chrono cracked an eye open and tried to move his left arm, only to find it pinned under a warm and soft female body, his right arm was likewise pinned. "Filia, Amy, I love you two a lot too, but if I don't answer this soon, the video's going to turn on and people will see you both naked." He wasn't surprised as they moved and allowed his arms movement. He was pretty thankful for that, actually, his arms were starting to both go numb and cramp up from the two of them using them as pillows. "Chrono here." He pushed the audio only button.

"Enforcer Chrono, this is Admiral Leti."

"What is it?" Chrono asked, his mind now fully awake.

"A powerfully strong X class signature has appeared on Non-Administered Planet 500. I need you to gather a team."

"How long can you give me?"

"Two hours."

Chrono nodded and bit his lip as the screen turned off. "A team, huh?" If it was X rank, then it had to be a Mazoku, and high X ranks were reserved for the ones who could devastate entire planets with ease.

Whatever the case was, he just hoped that none of them would be upset about being asked to go on what was, basically, a suicide mission.

Really, X ranked missions were called A.Y.N. missions. Anyone willing to go on them had to either be supremely powerful or nuts.

"What are you going to do, Chrono?" Filia asked, her face a worried mask.

Chrono got off the bed and started to gather his clothes. He'd wash up quick and then make some phone calls. "I'm going to ask Lina, Hayate and their families if they'll lend me their strength again."

"We can..." Chrono turned to face her and shook his head. Amy narrowed her eyes at him. "Chrono..."

"The last time we were there, you nearly died, Amy, you can't..."

"I'm going and you can't stop me, besides, you'll need someone on the ship who's been to that planet before." Amy crossed her arms under her breasts. "Filia?"

Filia shook her head. "I'm going to stay here." She looked away, her face flush. "I still haven't been feeling well lately." Turning to look at Amy, Filia frowned softly. "Actually, now that I think about it, you've been ill too."

"BAH!" Amy shook her head. "Just because I'm a little sick, don't expect me to take it easy. If there's danger, I've got to be there to make sure that the team has proper support."

Chrono nodded, internally grateful. "Just be careful." He blushed as Amy suddenly lunged forward and hugged him from behind. The feel of her naked breasts to his bare back was quite pleasant. "Amy, if you don't let go, we're going to get into trouble."

Amy nodded and let go of him. "Come on, we need to get ready." Filia smiled as the two went to get washed up, before sighing and flopping back onto the bed. It didn't take her long to fall back to sleep. As worried as she was, she was exhausted.

After all, she had only gotten to sleep an hour ago.

In any other situation/story this would have been a very sad moment. Seemingly upcoming father of at least two sent out on dangerous, practically suicidal, mission.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by Tiresias

I think that depends. If by Maximum Pain Infliction you mean "Here comes a world of pain! WHAM!", I don't think that's her style. DC is the kind who would do it slow and methodical; first she'll pull out all toenails one at a time, then she'll cut each fingers row by row, then the skinning begins etc etc etc...(all without any anesthetics, of course)...and you could only watch in horror and scream as your lower body parts starts to disappear...

.....That sounds like a horror genre O_O....

I like my tragedy to be clearly devastating beyond the obvious level .

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

...at which point you're either going to be avidly devouring every Shadowverse fic out there on your own, or completely sick of the whole concept. Syn's false light and deathcurse's (AU to the main 'Verse) Crime Never Sleeps are both excellent long fics to tackle at this point (you really can't go into them cold, but need some background knowledge of the Shadowverse to follow them).

Yeah , so first order of rewriting on draft #3 would be to include enough detail to have the fic stand alone somewhat. That, or have a massive 10 page Author's Note preceding it?

Originally Posted by Shigan

deathcurse: I need to know if you have any plans for a 19 years old Vivio's military career in your HayatexVivio-verse. If not, I'll just go wild.

Also, I need to know what Vivio's military rank is at 15.

No plans so far...all I thought of was Vivio becoming a forward attacker kind of role, to fit in with her Strike Arts proficiency in Vivid. So her role at 15 is the "SWAT"-like special squad under Hayate's command in the City Defenses, and so they take care of major crimes/violence. I have no clue yet as to where Vivio would want to go after that (nor can I say too much without possibly spoiling "Prerogative of the Brave" ).

Her current rank would be no higher than 2nd Lieutenant or so.

Other than that, I have no clue yet, so it's a blank slate for you ^^.

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

I'm glad to hear it, I was worried. ^^;;; Hopefully once I've shipped Lutecia off to Mau Gram and move her story there, it will be a little bit easier to focus on Vivio as an individual since with Lutecia gone, she now only needs to come to terms with the NSIS and Shadows as a whole, and not think so much on her girlfriend.

My initial thoughts about Lutecia going to Mau Gram was that it seemed a bit contrived, but after seeing your full explanation of why I can see that it's a good way of removing Lutecia from the picture so that Vivio can deal with the situation/new revelations without being influenced/distracted by the emotional aspects (or by being distracted by having to be the strong one in the relationship).

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

If he is, I need a minute to set up the betting pool.

It gets even more fun with the knowledge that even academic papers/citation sources get it wrong sometimes, or that two different systems can have slight variations in rules .....so we may never know....

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

I like my tragedy to be clearly devastating beyond the obvious level .

And that's why I gravitate towards you stories very much.

No, seriously.

It's not that I believe that True Art is Angsty!!! In fact, I can digest normal, subtle slice-in-the-life romance stories just fine. It's just nowadays in FF it seem so easy to find MSLN romance stories so sugary I got diabetes just by reading at the descriptions, so I might as well go to the other extreme.

...ok that's actually unfair for me, because titles and brief descriptions are often misleading BUTI'MSCAREDJUSTBYLOOKINGATTHEM!

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Red 1-30

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Red 31:

Back on Earth, the following morning...

Lina raised an eyebrow as she saw Fate and a young, redheaded boy standing by the front door. "You know, Fate, I hope that this won't become a habit of yours."

"Well, I thought it was a custom or something around here to bring people home with you." Fate blinked as Lina suddenly grabbed her stomach, laughing at that. "Mother?"

"I'm fine, I just found that funny." Smiling, Lina walked up and looked at the boy as he clung to Fate's leg tightly. "Well, hello, what's your name?"

The boy's face turned as red as his hair as he saw the gentleness in the woman's eyes. "E...Erio..." His eyes widened as she reached out and ruffled his hair.

"Well then, Erio," Lina smiled as he buried his face in Fate's leg, "you want to get washed up for breakfast?" The boy turned his head and perked up. "Seeing as I don't know how much you'll eat, I'll just have to make sure that there's more food than any of us can eat."

She laughed as she heard his stomach grumble. "Well then, shall we eat?" Erio and Fate both nodded and Fate led Erio to the sink to wash up. "So, Fate, did you get that one thing taken care of that you wanted?"

Fate stopped mid-step and groaned. "I forgot." After all the excitement with Erio and being told that she was responsible for him, a think like getting her outfit changed seemed really minor.

Lina shook her head and chuckled. "Don't worry about it, you can do that at any time."

Fate nodded and smiled softly as she helped Erio wash his face.

Lina shook her head. Well, this was going to be an interesting morning.

(---)

In Dimensional Space...

"Um, ma'am..." Leti raised an eyebrow as she looked at the bridge hand who was turning to look at her, his face pale. "I got bad news."

"What?"

"A high class X magical signature has appeared."

Leti's pupils shrank as that piece of information sank into her head. "What world?"

"Non-Administrated World 500."

Leti frowned, technically that world was out of the Bureau's jurisdiction, but if she didn't do something, then she would never hear the end of it. "Very well..."

She just knew that this was going to come back and bite her in the ass somehow.

(---)

Grimacing at the noise from a screen that appeared above his bed, Chrono cracked an eye open and tried to move his left arm, only to find it pinned under a warm and soft female body, his right arm was likewise pinned. "Filia, Amy, I love you two a lot too, but if I don't answer this soon, the video's going to turn on and people will see you both naked." He wasn't surprised as they moved and allowed his arms movement. He was pretty thankful for that, actually, his arms were starting to both go numb and cramp up from the two of them using them as pillows. "Chrono here." He pushed the audio only button.

"Enforcer Chrono, this is Admiral Leti."

"What is it?" Chrono asked, his mind now fully awake.

"A powerfully strong X class signature has appeared on Non-Administered Planet 500. I need you to gather a team."

"How long can you give me?"

"Two hours."

Chrono nodded and bit his lip as the screen turned off. "A team, huh?" If it was X rank, then it had to be a Mazoku, and high X ranks were reserved for the ones who could devastate entire planets with ease.

Whatever the case was, he just hoped that none of them would be upset about being asked to go on what was, basically, a suicide mission.

Really, X ranked missions were called A.Y.N. missions. Anyone willing to go on them had to either be supremely powerful or nuts.

"What are you going to do, Chrono?" Filia asked, her face a worried mask.

Chrono got off the bed and started to gather his clothes. He'd wash up quick and then make some phone calls. "I'm going to ask Lina, Hayate and their families if they'll lend me their strength again."

"We can..." Chrono turned to face her and shook his head. Amy narrowed her eyes at him. "Chrono..."

"The last time we were there, you nearly died, Amy, you can't..."

"I'm going and you can't stop me, besides, you'll need someone on the ship who's been to that planet before." Amy crossed her arms under her breasts. "Filia?"

Filia shook her head. "I'm going to stay here." She looked away, her face flush. "I still haven't been feeling well lately." Turning to look at Amy, Filia frowned softly. "Actually, now that I think about it, you've been ill too."

"BAH!" Amy shook her head. "Just because I'm a little sick, don't expect me to take it easy. If there's danger, I've got to be there to make sure that the team has proper support."

Chrono nodded, internally grateful. "Just be careful." He blushed as Amy suddenly lunged forward and hugged him from behind. The feel of her naked breasts to his bare back was quite pleasant. "Amy, if you don't let go, we're going to get into trouble."

Amy nodded and let go of him. "Come on, we need to get ready." Filia smiled as the two went to get washed up, before sighing and flopping back onto the bed. It didn't take her long to fall back to sleep. As worried as she was, she was exhausted.

After all, she had only gotten to sleep an hour ago.

A.Y.N. = Are You NUTS!?

make that A.Y.G.I = Are You Guys INSANE!? facing a revenge driven Mazoku...

well... well know that the cast's answer on that one... Let's the party begin!!!

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Red 1-30

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Red 31:

Back on Earth, the following morning...

Lina raised an eyebrow as she saw Fate and a young, redheaded boy standing by the front door. "You know, Fate, I hope that this won't become a habit of yours."

"Well, I thought it was a custom or something around here to bring people home with you." Fate blinked as Lina suddenly grabbed her stomach, laughing at that. "Mother?"

"I'm fine, I just found that funny." Smiling, Lina walked up and looked at the boy as he clung to Fate's leg tightly. "Well, hello, what's your name?"

The boy's face turned as red as his hair as he saw the gentleness in the woman's eyes. "E...Erio..." His eyes widened as she reached out and ruffled his hair.

"Well then, Erio," Lina smiled as he buried his face in Fate's leg, "you want to get washed up for breakfast?" The boy turned his head and perked up. "Seeing as I don't know how much you'll eat, I'll just have to make sure that there's more food than any of us can eat."

She laughed as she heard his stomach grumble. "Well then, shall we eat?" Erio and Fate both nodded and Fate led Erio to the sink to wash up. "So, Fate, did you get that one thing taken care of that you wanted?"

Fate stopped mid-step and groaned. "I forgot." After all the excitement with Erio and being told that she was responsible for him, a think like getting her outfit changed seemed really minor.

Lina shook her head and chuckled. "Don't worry about it, you can do that at any time."

Fate nodded and smiled softly as she helped Erio wash his face.

Lina shook her head. Well, this was going to be an interesting morning.

(---)

In Dimensional Space...

"Um, ma'am..." Leti raised an eyebrow as she looked at the bridge hand who was turning to look at her, his face pale. "I got bad news."

"What?"

"A high class X magical signature has appeared."

Leti's pupils shrank as that piece of information sank into her head. "What world?"

"Non-Administrated World 500."

Leti frowned, technically that world was out of the Bureau's jurisdiction, but if she didn't do something, then she would never hear the end of it. "Very well..."

She just knew that this was going to come back and bite her in the ass somehow.

(---)

Grimacing at the noise from a screen that appeared above his bed, Chrono cracked an eye open and tried to move his left arm, only to find it pinned under a warm and soft female body, his right arm was likewise pinned. "Filia, Amy, I love you two a lot too, but if I don't answer this soon, the video's going to turn on and people will see you both naked." He wasn't surprised as they moved and allowed his arms movement. He was pretty thankful for that, actually, his arms were starting to both go numb and cramp up from the two of them using them as pillows. "Chrono here." He pushed the audio only button.

"Enforcer Chrono, this is Admiral Leti."

"What is it?" Chrono asked, his mind now fully awake.

"A powerfully strong X class signature has appeared on Non-Administered Planet 500. I need you to gather a team."

"How long can you give me?"

"Two hours."

Chrono nodded and bit his lip as the screen turned off. "A team, huh?" If it was X rank, then it had to be a Mazoku, and high X ranks were reserved for the ones who could devastate entire planets with ease.

Whatever the case was, he just hoped that none of them would be upset about being asked to go on what was, basically, a suicide mission.

Really, X ranked missions were called A.Y.N. missions. Anyone willing to go on them had to either be supremely powerful or nuts.

"What are you going to do, Chrono?" Filia asked, her face a worried mask.

Chrono got off the bed and started to gather his clothes. He'd wash up quick and then make some phone calls. "I'm going to ask Lina, Hayate and their families if they'll lend me their strength again."

"We can..." Chrono turned to face her and shook his head. Amy narrowed her eyes at him. "Chrono..."

"The last time we were there, you nearly died, Amy, you can't..."

"I'm going and you can't stop me, besides, you'll need someone on the ship who's been to that planet before." Amy crossed her arms under her breasts. "Filia?"

Filia shook her head. "I'm going to stay here." She looked away, her face flush. "I still haven't been feeling well lately." Turning to look at Amy, Filia frowned softly. "Actually, now that I think about it, you've been ill too."

"BAH!" Amy shook her head. "Just because I'm a little sick, don't expect me to take it easy. If there's danger, I've got to be there to make sure that the team has proper support."

Chrono nodded, internally grateful. "Just be careful." He blushed as Amy suddenly lunged forward and hugged him from behind. The feel of her naked breasts to his bare back was quite pleasant. "Amy, if you don't let go, we're going to get into trouble."

Amy nodded and let go of him. "Come on, we need to get ready." Filia smiled as the two went to get washed up, before sighing and flopping back onto the bed. It didn't take her long to fall back to sleep. As worried as she was, she was exhausted.

After all, she had only gotten to sleep an hour ago.

Uh-huh, Chrono sure had a guts - to willingly take head the most powerfull Demon Lord of an entire plane.