Notes1: I never would've thought to make a sequel to the most important question of all...but then the Internet proved me wrong, and I had to hear for myself just what it was that was supposedly 'tearing the Internet apart'. (For the record, I heard Laurel.)
This also marks the first Nanoha piece I've done since 2016. For me, the franchise has become a sort of zombie in my eyes, since Force (to my knowledge) is still dead in the water, Vivid Strike is just part of Vivio's spin-off series, and the latest installments have been the Reflection and Detonation movies that don't really continue the story past Vivid. I wouldn't really mind seeing a continuation of sorts that give the series a definitive ending, but at this point I'm not really holding my breath. After all, Warcraft became the new Nanoha for me :P
"So what does it sound like to you?" Fate asks, once Nanoha has stopped replaying the short audio clip she's been clicking on for the five minutes. "Caro says it's Yanny, Erio thinks it's Laurel, and Vivio...well, I dunno about you, Nanoha, but I think Lio might've hacked the downstairs laptop the other day when her and Corona were over just to mess with us. Don't ask me how she knows; kids are smarter than we take 'em for. Me, personally? I think it was—what was it again?-that's right. Laurel. It rolls better off the tongue than Yanny. Who would name their kid that? Yanny? That's such a strange name, don't you think? Ah, but at least it's not as strange as the names some of Earth's celebrities name their children, like Pilot Inspektor and Moon Unit."
Nanoha hums, nodding her head. She's been staring pretty intensely at the screen since they started this little test. It's the kind of face she puts on when she's watching the rookies go through their mock battles, the kind of face that narrows her eyes and makes them look like chipped ice. The sight would be so arousing if she wasn't looking so serious.
"Nanoha?" Fate repeats.
"You wanna know?" Nanoha asks, looking her right in the eye.
"Yeah."
"I didn't hear either."
Fate blinks. "What? Nanoha, you either have to be deaf or ignorant to not hear one or the other. You must've heard something."
"Except I didn't," Nanoha says. "I didn't hear neither Yanny or Laurel. Also, we don't have room to talk about silly child names. We used to think our kid was named after a car."
Oh, she got her there. But that was beside the point. "Okay. So if you didn't hear neither Yanny or Laurel, then what did you hear?"
Nanoha gives her a long look, her expression unchanging, and Fate has to suppress the urge to fidget and readjust her hold on the woman again. Then, while removing the headphones and twisting round to place them on the desk beside them, "I heard...my name."
Fate cocks her head. "Your name?"
"My name," Nanoha repeats, "you're goin' to be screaming when I'm done having my way with you. C'mere." She grabs Fate by the tie with one hand and with the other all but shoves her onto her back on the bed.
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT-" is all Fate gets out...and really, other than a few other, vulgar words in the heat of the moment, Nanoha's name is the only word she says for the rest of the night.