Amount of hugs needed: 8840

Amount of hugs found: 3,876

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original.

She'd only nodded off for a brief few minutes before Scrya-san's yawn brought her back to consciousness. At around the fourth minute of her silent vigil she'd been lulled to drifting and letting her Jacket fall apart finally, the tremors having stopped a minute after she'd arrived and settled down and no longer bothering her.

Anyway, she was fully awake and standing up with a gentle smile as Scrya-san groggily got up, rubbing sleep from his eyes before yawning again and finally focusing on her. "Good… afternoon I believe, Scrya-san. Did you have a nice nap?"

"Nano-haaa…?" Her employer gave a large yawn that he tried to stifle unsuccessfully, before turning to look at her sleepily, blinking twice before continuing with another yawn, "Good afternoon… Where are we, Nanoha?" Hmm, either Scrya-san was not fully awake yet, which was very likely given how he had looked when they'd seen one another after her being captured, or he didn't remember what had happened for… at least since the morning began.

She let a happy little smile twist its way onto her face as she closed her eyes, she was sure Onee-sama would have said something about him being 'cute and adorable' after seeing Scrya-san wake up. Either way she opened her eyes shortly after, slowly raised herself from her seat on the floor and gave the answer to Scrya-san's question. "We're on the… Arthra I think Lindy-san called it. You made a deal with her where we'd work together to get the remaining Jewel Seeds, and shortly after passed out once we were on the ship. You've been sleeping for a few hours I think."

Scrya-san blinked twice before sighing dejectedly… why he did so before she told him that they'd failed to retrieve those Jewel Seeds, she had no idea, but either way she just waited for him to respond to her answer, absent-mindedly bobbing her head as she waited. After a few seconds her employer gathered himself again with a breath and looked back at her, his gaze was surprisingly quite weary despite also turning worried, though after the past few days she could understand. "The Jewel Seeds? Did you get them all?"

"… No." She took her time to answer his question… she wasn't proud that she had failed to get the last of them, and couldn't get them for the foreseeable future, but she had to at least let Scrya-san know that they were unobtainable now. "A woman helping Fate, or the other way around, took the Jewel Seeds and used them. The place we were fighting started collapsing shortly after."

Another dejected sigh left his lips and she lowered her head in shame… she was supposed to collect all the Jewel Seeds for him, that had been the contract… and while she was still bound to collect them, she'd failed to retrieve them… and there was no telling if those Jewels would come back. She'd failed… Takamachi never failed a job… did that mean she wasn't fit to be a Takamachi, or since the job wasn't done was she bound to wait until those Jewels were collected before her job for Scrya-san was done?

"Well… it can't be helped." Scrya-san's voice pulled her out of her brooding, making her focus back onto him as he stood to his full, non-imposing height and gave a tired smile, "You did your best, and despite losing eleven of the twenty-one, the other ten are in safe hands." … But she didn't get them and deliver all twenty-one to him… which meant she failed… "And despite the other Jewel Seeds being lost, they won't be used ever again, which is what I wanted anyway. So Nanoha…" So… she did her job correctly, and completed it? She didn't fail, but she still wanted to get the last eleven to Scrya-san… she'd make a promise then to try and get the others back later.

She blinked once and focused back on Scrya-san, the boy looking at her worriedly while leaning directly into her face… did he see something wrong with her? "Are you alri-"

Without any warning whatsoever, the door to the room hissed open, startling Scrya-san into jumping away from her into a standing position, and let an exhausted-looking Lindy enter the room… It had only been… less than a half-hour since she had rushed off to wherever she needed to be, and already she looked a bit older. The moment the Admiral saw the both of them awake, not seeming to register Scrya-san's strangely colored face, she said a single sentence.

"Well… I have good news and bad news, which do you want first?"

Both her and Scrya-san looked at Lindy for a moment, then she turned to look at her employer as Lindy did the same, thankfully he was back to a normal color or the Admiral would look at him strangely. For a few more seconds he looked lost in thought before taking notice of both her and their… 'host' looking at him, eventually leading to him almost stuttering out a "Uhh… Bad news?", which Lindy-san wasted no time in moving onto… she must be stressed if she wasn't bantering or teasing, she seemed to enjoy that.

"Alright, bad news, we're stuck above the planet we were on a few hours ago, the lanes are down so we have no way to travel or send a message to the Bureau. We have no idea when those lanes are coming back up, or even if the damage is just limited to this world." Despite the words being said in a jovial tone and a smile, even she could tell Lindy was just putting on an act considering what it was she was saying.

"Moving on… the ship's been damaged in several areas during our brush with dimensional collapse, most notably the engines are burned out and there's a hole to space on the underside. Which basically amounts to this ship isn't going anywhere anyway… probably for the rest of its life." With that she paused for a moment, took a deep breath in and out in a slightly exaggerated manner before straightening and putting an actual smile on her face.

"Good news now, the hole was in one of the areas that held absolutely nothing thanks to us being a mothballed ship. And aside from the casualties at the Garden we lost no one else, and there's enough supplies to last us a year if we ration."

"That said though… we have two people near-dead and zero supplies to actually treat them beyond making them stable, as well as three… 'prisoners', so we're officially screwed in that regard." Lindy took a moment to sigh before looking over at the two of them, Scrya-san tensing for a moment before calming down… he really needed to do better talking with other people. "I don't suppose either of you have a place we could stay."

The Admiral had a light smile on her face when she said that, probably just 'joking' like she'd seen Onee-sama do at one point in the past… though Scrya-san looked directly at her after the words registered… The property she lived on did have several buildings on it, even if it wasn't the main compound her branch had inhabited, it still had enough space to accommodate half the branch as well as guests back before she was born. … They could come to an agreement perhaps. "There's enough room at my home for your crew."

For a brief moment surprise worked its way onto Lindy's face before she reigned it in and smiled again pleasantly, a cheerful voice playing happily as she replied to her words. "Unless you have enough space for some fort-sixty people, I-" She cut off that forming sentence with a bluntly stated fact that Lindy wouldn't have known, delivered just as cheerfully as Lindy had been using.

"There are a total of nine buildings on the property, three dojos and five residential areas and a building for receiving visitors, we only use three of the buildings now." Lindy's face froze for a moment in its pleasant state before morphing into something between surprise, suspicion and relief… a strange three to have all at once.

The response to her statement was expected though, given that she was essentially telling Lindy that there was room at her home, and was offering to house her and her crew, "I suppose you would want something in payment for allowing us to stay with you?" A light nod was her first response, followed by a few moments of silence to think up the 'value' of what she was giving and then what she wanted to ask.

Finally, after nearly a half-minute of silently looking at Lindy she gave her offer, satisfied that it was even enough for both sides. "In return for shelter and food for you and your crew until the 'lanes' are back up, teach me how to make mana to explode."

"How about a compromise, Nanoha-chan?" She blinked once before tilting her head to the side, she didn't see anything particularly wrong with the terms she gave, if anything she was probably giving them too much in return for learning how to do one kind of spell. "Me, my crew and our 'detainees' get a place to rest and recuperate, as well you take me and Chrono to see the Cherry Blossoms fall. I read they're quite beautiful to watch fall, and I'd like to see them in person. In return, I'll train, spar and teach you a few spells instead of just making exploding mana. Is that to your liking, Takamachi Nanoha?"

Those were agreeable terms, if a bit skewed towards favoring her now, and the base agreement was there, so with a happy smile she nodded her head and a contract was struck between them with a simple 'arm grip'.

Life at home became… very lively in comparison to before, though to be fair, there were some forty to sixty people living on clan grounds now compared to the four before the incident started. It wasn't a bad thing necessarily, a bit jarring since she'd only been around five people at home at the most for the majority of her life, but not bad. Thankfully for her, most of their guests or 'family friends' were put together in the other two homes on clan grounds rather than her house, otherwise she'd be a lot more uncomfortable.

The only ones that actually shared her house were Lindy-san and Chrono-san, excluding Scrya-san since he'd already been here prior, with the rest spread out amongst the two other homes. Once, this place had nearly a hundred people living on it, but that was a time before she was alive to see it, before the incident that killed seven branches. Still that simple fact provided their home lots of space and several buildings that were kept in good condition, which was quite... convenient given the circumstance.

… Otou-sama had been strangely passive about her simply arriving with the crew of the Arthra and asking if they could stay until their way home was fixed, taking it in stride with a sigh before simply going around and unlocking three of the buildings on their property. She'd had to explain a bit later why they couldn't go home… which had led to her telling Otou-sama about magic and what little she knew of the places outside. Naturally, he wasn't enthused about learning what she'd been hiding that from him, but that had passed quickly, Otou-sama wouldn't let something that trivial bother him for long, he had lots of things to do and more had been added with the unexpected guests.

Onee-sama was quick to welcome them, getting the Arthra's crew settled down and 'comfortable'… there wasn't much that could make the buildings more 'homey', the Takamachi clan as a whole weren't a family that cared for material wealth, they needed a bed, food, drink and a roof and they were content. So they lacked a lot of the items that made things lively in a building, and really had only the bare necessities… but that should be better than staying on the Arthra, for the simple reason of being on a planet.

Anyway, Onee-sama welcomed them, provided them with what little comforts they had available and shortly after began preparing a meal with Onii-sama aiding her, at least on this first night, they had to be good hosts. Onii-sama was passive as well… he barely reacted to any of what was going on beside an initial burst of surprise and relief at the sight of them and her respectively… he wasn't normally like that. Usually he'd have narrowed his eyes and kept an eye on the company either she or Onee-sama brought home, that or at the very least, subtly threaten anyone not to cause any trouble, maybe it was the condition some of them were in.

Aside from that… nothing really happened aside from she returned to school, was immediately tackled by a very overjoyed Arisa-chan upon arriving there, which followed into Suzuka-chan happily hugging her… she'd made them very worried apparently. After that she'd been subjected to… 'attention' from her peers, rather than the ignoring she'd been subjected to for so long, that made her uncomfortable, but it wasn't anything that was particularly difficult to ignore. And finally, after the day was done, Suzuka had invited her to another tea party she was holding the day after school ended, an invitation she graciously accepted.

The only 'bad' thing to come of her 'extended medical leave' was school was almost at its end, with only two more school days to attend, with a few tests at some point during those two days. She finished every piece of work she missed easily, with the two exceptions being obviously difficult, and her grades were either near-perfect or passing, which suited her.

The sound of feet falling on wood reached her ears, tearing her from her thoughts and bringing her back to lucidity… huh, she was still sweeping, she should probably finish before Otou-sama found her… and there went the footfalls… it was probably Onee-sama or Chrono-san. Nothing to be bothered by.

Tinkering, one of the few passions he had that hadn't resulted from his mother, and he wasn't able to properly do it for now. …His family was… crazier than most people, his mother was a tea addict, his father apparently had taken chivalry and knighthood to an extreme, and he loved to mess with machinery and electronics, make and improve anything he could get his hands on… And because of a simple action he no longer could properly do as he wished with metal and circuits, and with the lane out there was no way to get a mass-produced one.

So making himself an arm was the only way that would let him tinker properly again, amongst other things, so for one time, he put aside the passionate part of him and settled straight into making a basic thing rather than the ornate limb he envisioned. The feeling of cold metal and tools in hand was soothing, the whir and buzz of machinery a symphony he knew inside and out, he locked them and his joy away and forced himself to forget them for now. Thankfully he'd be able to use the design he'd thought up later on after this one was made and he had the proper materials, but for right now he just needed a simple hand and arm.

Unfortunately due to his missing limb, he wasn't able to mold the metal into the desired shape or even hold it in order to put the 'volatile' parts in… which he got around by asking for help from one of the few people that he felt confident wouldn't accidentally screw up. A slightly older man named Landy… which was a bit confusing since his mother's name was Lindy but it wasn't much of an issue.

"Keep it steady, don't drop it. And whatever you do, don't let it touch your skin or mine." The red-white metal Landy was holding with tongs would sear anything it touched that wasn't properly insulated, not even counting what would happen once the part he was holding was fitted in.

"Sir if I may ask, why are you putting a reactor into the arm?"

… Why shouldn't he? "I have a low mana capacity, only about… 15% more than the average." Yea… the only reason he was able to go toe-to-toe with his mother and the two other girls despite that massive gap in mana was because of a simple, rather… dumb thing. "If I want to use that prosthetic in combat, no matter how unlikely it is that I have to fight with this one, I need another source to properly supply it with mana so my own can be used for spells."

"Wait! You plan on making a second one of these!?" … Yes… this was the only thing about working with someone else that he actually hated, especially since they weren't used to his own brand of 'eccentricity'. After fifteen years of being raised by his mother, and being descended from the Admiral who styled himself a knight, as well as the Admiral who made a teacup into a hammer, was it any wonder that he had something in line with their 'issues'?

Gently, he started to maneuver the little battery into the mass of cooling metal, directly to the little slot he'd left for it. He'd be able to hook everything up to it later on his own, but this thing had to go in during this part so it would bond properly to the heat sink/vent rather than have it loose and run the risk of it overheating and blowing up. "Of course I am, this one's only meant to be used off-duty, the second one's going to be for combat and have a bigger reactor in it than this little thing."

Landy looked like he was about to gape in disbelief, which would likely jostle the metal a bit, so he immediately barked out, "Focus!" and continued on with his work, remaining still with the battery as the red metal moved slightly in response. Haa… this was why he preferred working alone, less room for human error when he was tinkering.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to a half-hour before he sent Landy away, his task done the moment the metal was placed inside a quenching tank and allowed to cool. Considering the risk of explosion, melting and occasional accidental EMP his tinkering had, they'd brought down what little of the equipment he needed they had on board down and placed in a building that vaguely looked like a workshop. … Well, it probably would be a decent one if the walls weren't flimsy and the floor wooden, which he'd been extremely careful to avoid getting anything flammable near.

The forge was outside and still burning, a small thing barely able to make the heat necessary to shape metal, but given where it was supposed to be used, it was the best thing they had. Along with the forge was a metal table, roughly a meter and half long and a third of that length wide, once again, the best thing they had on hand, where the arm would be laid out after it was done with the quenching process. Shouldn't be long now…

An hour turned quietly, and a few more minutes were spent simply waiting for the piece to finish before he picked his way over to the tank, grabbing a pair of tongs as he passed the table and firmly grabbing the metal once he got there. Carefully he laid the inner workings of what would be his new arm back into the furnace, and stepped back to let it temper… now he waited for the metal to finish its last stage of the process before he could move to the next piece. Well, he could at least start on the second layer while he was waiting.

Now then… where did the crew put the rest of the smaller pieces of spare metal? Going back inside the building, he started searching amidst the myriad items and furniture for the needed parts for the next layer. His mind drifted as he looked, something he was fine with doing since he didn't need his full attention at the moment, and it inevitably settled on his hosts and everything that had gone wrong since they had arrived.

Nanoha and her family had been kind to them when they showed up unannounced, giving them a place to stay, recuperate and repair after… whatever was the proper way to explain the incident that had happened. He'd been beaten by a girl nearly half his age simply because she could take everything he could throw at her, and then beaten by another that was apparently his age soundlessly due to her having ungodly amounts of mana and bombardment spells. Then of course everything went to hell the one time he wasn't there, with a dimensional tremor ripping apart the lanes from this world to every other one, and likely several other worlds as well.

Which put them in a major predicament since they had no idea when those lanes would stabilize enough that they'd even get a message out the Mid-Childa to let them know that they weren't defecting to the secessionists and they were just MIA for a short time, let alone actually leave. Well… they weren't really secessionists, they hadn't joined the Bureau before the fighting had started.

Discounting those though… no, the time between then and now had just been terrible, especially with him losing his arm and half of the enforcers dead… Regardless, now that it was over they could finally have something of a break and 'relax' for a while, even if it was a break they wouldn't have necessarily wanted.

Haa… What he'd give, to have lived in a place where there was peace and there weren't burial services every few days for some group of soldiers or enforcers. Perhaps… no, that dream was too beautiful to ever be real, even if there was a way to get to that peaceful place that simple dream of his would never be real.

"Uh… Hello?" He jolted back from his reverie at the sound of a girl's voice, the one that helped the-

A bang echoed throughout the room, followed by his groan of pain as he slowly stood up, hand cradling his head as quick steps were made towards him from the entrance. Miyuki was her name if he was remembering correctly.

Brown hair done in a braided ponytail with a yellow bow, glasses set over pale green eyes, and a milky blue kimono, met his blurry gaze as he focused, it was Nanoha's sister alright. "Would you mind telling me why there's stuff in and around my dojo?" … Not a single apology for causing him to hit his head, or even a helping hand to get him out from under the table, he could vaguely see a resemblance between her and her sister now.

At least she wasn't as creepy as Nanoha was… always smiling was creepy, and the one time she wasn't she looked like a doll with wings, blank and 'unliving'. Anyways… he may as well answer her question. "It was the only place far enough away that an explosion wouldn't do any damage, as well as the only place I could work in peace." He got only silence as he backed out from under the table he found himself under… he hadn't even found the metal he was looking for in the middle of all his thinking.

"So you just stuff dangerous equipment in a seemingly remote, unused building, without even asking the owners if said building is being used? Haa… I just wanted to relax after the last few days…" He refrained from giving an answer when she let out a sigh, in their defense, this was the only place they could put them on short notice. Aside from that, he had been planning on asking Mr. Takamachi after he was finished for the day if some temporary structure could be made, or some room converted to be used as a workshop.

… Where were the damn metal strips stored!

His focus returned when sudden clanging, screeching and rattling of something startled him again, his gaze shooting up to see Miyuki manhandling a table laden with supplies across the floor on her own towards the outside… he… he wasn't expecting her to do that. Faintly he could hear her muttering under her breath, which he wisely tuned out as he got to his feet and continued to rummage around looking for the metal plates. And with that they lapsed into a… comfortable 'silence', if one could call it that with Miyuki hauling equipment outside.

After probably five to seven minutes the sound of stuff moving ceased, and he still hadn't found the pile of metal, something that was beginning to gradually annoy him greatly considering there were literally no places left to look. Haa… no use getting frustrated with it when he still had to wait on the forge to be done with the tempering process, still he would have liked to have started the second layer before the first was done... "So you're a blacksmith then, Harlaown-san?"

Miyuki's question came without an warning, given that she'd been silent except for the initial questioning, and prompted a jump from him in response, which elicited a light round of giggling from the girl. Quickly regaining as much composure as he could from that embarrassing move, he answered his host with the phrase he always used when someone asked that, "I prefer the term 'tinkerer' rather than blacksmith." She gave a hum, what for he had no idea seeing as she was looking at the forge rather than him, so he couldn't see her expression, before he decided to continue to address the next likely question before it was uttered. "I'm just making myself a prosthetic for my left forearm."

"I see." … She sounded very disinterested in what he was making… a first outside of everyone but his mother and a welcome change considering that everyone else usually looked at him strangely or thought he was crazy… the last one was probably justified. Either way looking her way had reminded him to look over the first layer, it shouldn't be near time yet to pull it out, but it was better to at least look over it than just ignore it.

He passed by Miyuki without a single reaction from her… something that in hindsight was unsettling given that she was still staring at the forge, or more specifically the fire, "Fire's a strange entity, creating as much as it destroys." … That line managed to get him to look at her directly for the first time since they arrived, and what he saw was… strange. She had a smile on her face like her younger sister, far smaller yet genuine and gentle, with the only difference in expression between her and Nanoha being her eyes, vacant and seemingly staring at something he couldn't see. Scratch not being as creepy as Nanoha then.

Given he had no understanding of what was going on or how to react to that statement, he proceeded to turn around and…

… those idiots.

"WHO THE HELL PUT THE METAL PILE NEXT TO THE DAMN FORGE!"

"Your boy should show some consideration before he yells."

"Haa… true. He's normally much better unless he's working on some project of his."

Such was the conversation between both Lindy and Shiro that neither were even remotely bothered when Chrono randomly yelled out something about metal and a forge, nor where they bothered when he just as suddenly stopped as if something silenced him. None of what they were speaking of had any significant meaning, more they were just passing the time as they watched Nanoha taking her sword to a poor, helpless training dummy. It wasn't like either had any place to be given the time being late in the evening, and silence didn't suit tea-drinking with others.

"Oh? And what kind of 'project' would your son be doing this late in the evening with a single arm."

Calmly she gave a shrug before returning to her cup, taking a sip to savor the newest combination Bob had made for her before putting it down. "I wouldn't know, he keeps to himself when he's making something and doesn't talk about it with anyone. I humor him, and only intrude if there's an explosion, fire, or shockwave, he knows what he's doing. Most of the time." Her 'drinking' partner gave a quiet hum before focusing back on his youngest as said girl stood still for a moment before hanging her head, letting out a sigh and went back to what she was doing.

Sometimes during this peaceful lull she wondered what went through that girl's head, then shortly after she'd give up and continue whatever it was she was doing, Nanoha made absolutely no sense to her. The only thing she'd managed to come up with so far was she was talking to voices in her head, which while uncommon wasn't unheard off and made her wonder exactly was wrong with this family.

"Razing Heart, what are you going to teach me today?"

Haa… she hated being addressed by any name other than her own, far more than if she was addressed by 'Device' or 'it', and on top of being addressed in this barbaric tongue. At least this 'Nanoha' was respectful and didn't bother her outside of the times she forced the girl to learn the King's language and etiquette, the latter was easy to teach and the girl took to it like a natural, the other… in her long life, she'd never seen someone so inept at learning to talk.

Her wielder was… strange, at least compared to those who held her in the past. For one and most important, there were two little sides to her that she'd seen, separated by a 'wall' if it could be called that. One side was simple and 'fake', and the other… the other she couldn'tunderstand even after being 'alive' for so long.

That wasn't to say she was afraid of it, after so long and so many queens served, ranging from the benevolent tyrant to the most wretched of saints, she'd long lost 'surprise' and 'discomfort' over strange qualities in her wielders. She was more… interested in whatever her wielder was behind the 'wall', what little she'd seen when she woke up promised an enjoyable time if the 'wall' would be torn down. Unfortunately, or fortunately, she neither knew a way to do so nor cared enough to have tried to if she had, it would happen eventually anyway and she had eternity to look forward to, she'd lose interest if she just made things happen.

Back to the present and her wielder, there wasn't much she could teach 'Nanoha' currently. Language as mentioned was beyond difficult for the girl, though with the way she poured effort into it, 'Nanoha' would eventually complete it, and their lesson for that had been done in the early morning, she 'disliked' teaching the same thing twice per day, it had proven incredibly boring in the past. History was not her strong suit, she knew the tales of her past wielders from start to end since she'd been passed from mother to daughter for millennia, but the other royalty, the major events her wielders chose not to join, she knew nothing of aside what she heard. Still, 'Nanoha' soaked up those tales she told the girl in the cold nights, far quicker than the King's language at any rate.

Swordsmanship was the only thing she had yet to teach the girl, and the only thing that made her wary was a conversation 'Nanoha' and the one she called 'Otou-sama' had, which had told her that the weapon her wielder used wasn't her life-weapon. Well, it wasn't truly swordsmanship so much as combat with a shield and some other weapon, but 'swordsmanship' was the only thing she knew how to call it.

Anyways, due to that she wouldn't be teaching the basics of using a shield just yet, nor would she use her 'home' as a sparring room just yet. Also given that 'Nanoha' already had made herself spells, and even made one that was far easier to use as an auto-guard than Panzerhindernis, she doubted the girl would want any others that she didn't make herself. Which left her with… absolutely nothing to teach the girl that she hadn't already done today, or was planned for later. Wonderful.

Another sigh left her before she returned to her wielder's question, asked barely two seconds ago, she hadn't meant to take so long in answering. "Later on tonight, I'll tell you about another Seraph's beginning. Until then, just do your normal things." The girl nodded her head once, turned slightly before cocking her head to the side and turning back around, did her wielder have something else to ask, haa… she just wanted to sleep again.

"Razing Heart?" She reallyhated that name with a passion, even so she refused to let that name bother her any more than necessary. "The names you gave my spells, 'Macht, Geschwi… Geschwindi… the speed one, Ausdauer, Ablenkschutz, Luftschritt and… Aufge… Aufgelade… the mana blade. What do they mean?" Oh, those things, those spells that were barely being worth named due to how simple they were… well technically they weren't named still, but she'd just called them in their Belkan names.

Eh, they could be names for the spells if 'Nanoha' wanted, even if the things were more derogative in her eyes, all but Ablenkschutz anyway, out of the spells she'd spoken about that as the only one worth anything right now. "In order, Macht means 'Power', Geschwindigkeit means 'Speed', Ausdauer means 'Endurance', Ablenkschutz means 'Deflection Shield', Luftschritt means 'Air Step', and lastly Aufgeladene Klinge means 'Charged Blade'."

The girl looked at her, face turning blank as the words she spoke registered, before a second passed, then three. Finally, on the fourth second the girl's hand met her face softly as a sigh left her mouth, muttering to herself as a satisfied smile made its way onto her own face, that little bit of amusement made her staying up far more worthwhile now, none of the Seraphs before were this… entertaining.

She may be a Device over a millennia old, but that simply made her… far more bored than the other sentient Devices, besides she had eternity to look forward to. She needed something to pass the time.

Anyway, she sent the girl away after that, there wasn't anything for her to be doing here yet, and she'd very much like to sleep away the next few hours. Unfortunately, sleep wouldn't come for a minute just like always and left her with a lot of time to continue 'reflecting' and thinking, which she was thankful that she had something to think about unlike the past few times she'd woken up since her last Seraph burned away.

Oh, her little Seraph of Blades, so little and naïve yet entertaining and mysterious, she would greatly enjoy figuring out this little girl that would wield her again as she was meant to. She sorely missed the entertainment War brought, dueling with rivals, midnight divebombs onto a castle's keep, victory banquets with allies and rivals at the war's end. She missed those days of fun and revelry, even if she never really took part in it, it was nice to have the sound of her Seraphs' laughter in her ears.

'Nanoha', such an amusing little girl she would be in the future, for a moment her thoughts drifted to what rivals would the girl would make later in life along with what entertainment she'd give her. But that was far, far later into the future when Nanoha had her life-weapon and she'd taught her what little she had to teach the young Seraph.

Amidst everything that made up 'Nanoha' there was one thing that made her wary of this girl, not due to power or skill, she'd seen much, much better from the myriad of foes and wielders in the past. No, what drew her attention was the 'whisperings' that she felt slithering through 'cracks' in the 'wall', which inevitably showed her something that didn't belong. The 'whispers' interested her in the same way as the 'wall' and… 'strangeness' did, though the fact that they refused to be close enough for her to look at made her wonder what they were and what purpose they could possibly have.

Strangely, they had her voice, only far gentler, from what little sound she'd heard… how that was possible both intrigued and confused her, quite the coincidence.

"That girl you brought with you, the blonde-haired one, is she doing any better?"

She didn't let the question catch her by surprise, though a sigh escaped her lips all the same, there went the nice silence that had sprung up after Nanoha got back to work. "She's still near-catatonic and refuses to leave the room she was put in, both of the others with her are making sure she doesn't do anything… extreme. Otherwise, she's apparently walking around the room now, so there's progress."

"I see… Do you believe she will recover, or will she wallow around in self-pity." She found herself lightly grimacing in reply to that… blunt question and careless reply her host gave. She was sure he hadn't meant it to sound so 'rudely', but his tone and words in response to another person's wellbeing made him sound as if he didn't care at all how the girl was doing and was just talking to talk.

"It… will take some time, but I think she'll pull through eventually." Taking a sip of her tea before placing it down, she leaned back and lightly breathed out her growing 'frustration' with the man beside her, at the very least he wasn't just giving false sympathy. "A question for you now, Shiro-san." The man took a sip of his own tea before minutely turning in her direction, his gaze still locked towards Nanoha as she set about in another set of exercises. "What the hell is wrong with your children?"

He didn't even react at those nearly-hissed words, instead taking another drink and focusing on his daughter with a small smile, the first actual positive expression she's seen on him since she'd arrive. After almost a minute of him just silently watching the girl with a sip of tea every so often, she finally grew annoyed enough to reiterate her question again, "Shir-"

"Out of four, only one is normal. Two were born different from the rest, and the fourth had rage burned away in a fire that consumed a thousand men, women and children."

Only she was interrupted before the second syllable left her lips, giving her an answer that explained absolutely nothing, so she waited as he turned to her before tensing as she something… different from the passivity that had been in those brown eyes. Something far more menacing than the man's casual demeanor and appearance belied. "You've seen my youngest when she fights, haven't you?"

A nod was the only reply she gave her host, not exactly sure how that would give her the answer to her question, but unwilling to question him since he seemed to be leading up to the answer anyway. Shiro-san's gaze switched back to his daughter as she started an apparently new set of slashes and stabs against the wooden dummy. "Tell me, what is the difference between her now and when she was fighting."

The number one difference was the most obvious, she was training rather than fighting. Despite wanting to make that smartass remark after the earlier brushing off on the other girl's condition and her own interruption seconds before, she reined in her frustration and just looked a bit deeper. Second among the differences she could see was… she was a lot more skilled than she'd ever shown during the many fights she'd watched her have with Chrono, especially after her Transformation into… whatever it was he'd been.

Despite that being much more valid than the first, she didn't feel that was what Shiro was talking about, which led her to looking for anything else. There had been the rollercoaster of emotions she'd seen the girl go through in that last battle between them… which had at first looked like a breakdown before turning into that shell of a human from the transformation. That of all things was the likeliest to be the difference her host was talking about… but even so, he didn't seem like the man to put value in emotions.

So she kept looking at differences, finding the smallest differences she could possibly see from a girl she'd barely known for less than a month, she saw and recalled how she treated her family compared to those she had fought, only to find she treated them the exact same with a little more 'warmth' towards family. She looked at how Nanoha dressed then and now, finding that she seemed to adore being barefoot and was a bit more… 'extravagant' in her designing of a Barrier Jacket, as well as her Device… which made no sense considering the jewel set into an already existing object rather than make its own like every other Device she'd seen before.

Regardless, after pondering for several minutes and emptying Bob of tea twice she finally came to a stop and went back to the third difference she'd seen in Nanoha, out of every little thing she'd seen that was the single biggest thing that stood out. "Would that difference happen to be she has a different personality she uses for fighting?"

She expected him to confirm her guess with a nod or deny with a shake of his head, she didn't expect an 'amused noise' to quietly be uttered, responding with equally amused words after drinking the last of his tea. "Close Harlaown-san, very close. But not quite." Without saying anything else he picked up the teapot at his side and refilled his cup, taking a quick sip after lacing the pot back at his side before continuing. "I'll leave that question for you to figure out on your own, and just move to my other two children."

"My oldest is simple to explain, he has to deal with three people that are… 'broken' would be the easiest way to say it, but not very accurate except for my first daughter. 'Different' works a bit better for all of us together but still isn't right. Regardless, he has to deal with and look after three individuals that each are messed up in their own way, which leaves little room to be… 'nice' and friendly, especially when his sisters can't tell when someone is taking advantage of them."

A light sigh left the man after he finished speaking about his son… she honestly had expected him to either continue with cryptic riddles or just not say, it just seemed like something the man would do, since he'd been completely truthful for everything else that had been asked of him. "Miyuki… She wasn't my daughter to begin with, she was my innocent niece born to my sister. Then a single act of terrorism killed two clans, and roughly two-thirds of another, and left only four survivors." His voice had taken on a wistful tone as he started speaking about his older daughter, and with the second sentence she could understand why.

Shiro stayed quiet for a moment before taking a long drink from his tea, an action she took part in as well… it seemed even a 'backwater' place like this still had to deal with the same problems plaguing the Administrated worlds… her poor Chrono… "She's better now than she was directly after the incident, though she tends to relapse and say things that don't make sense if she sees any flame at all. That fire seared away more than just her skin."

She waited for him to elaborate more, or at the very least give her some indication that he was done talking, instead he just quietly sat his cup of tea down and proceeded to stare up at the grey-cast sky above. No words were given to comfort the man, she had none that the man probably hadn't heard already, nor would any actions be taken to try and reach the same effect, such displays were for the people who were married here and weren't welcome from others. So instead she just sat near him and drank her tea, letting him have time to himself and sort himself out, that's what Graham did for her, and it worked out.

Eventually after a long period of silence, and a light rain beginning to fall on Nanoha-chan, her tea ran out again, a light-hearted conversation playing out with Bob that made the man look over at her in amusement. "More tea please old friend. Though add less sugar and more milk in this cup." "As you wish your Ladyship, one milligram of sugar less and two milliliters of milk more." "Thank you Bob. Are you excited to see the cherry blossoms fall in the spring?" "Of course your Ladyship, it should be as beautiful as you at the very least."

She laughed quietly in response to her Device's last words, looking back up at Nanoha-chan as Bob refilled himself, her device was such a gentleman sometimes. "… That had better not be green tea."

She had the dignity to look affronted at the sudden accusation, she wasn't that much of an eccentric as to drink that kind of tea with extra additives. "Of course not! Milk and cream taste terrible with green tea, sugar's decent enough though." Shiro-san gave her a look before shaking his head quietly, turning back to his daughter just as she finished the last of her swinging and proceeded to just stand in the grass for a moment, until finally she turned and gave them a gentle smile.

"I did it flawlessly Otou-sama, did I do good?"

On one hand the girl unnerved her greatly, what with the massive amounts of mana she could use and the lack of restraint she had shown when using it, not even counting that she somehow managed to cheat death. On the other she looked so… innocent and full of joy at the thought of impressing her father. Nanoha-chan was such a strange girl, a strange, happy-go-lucky, terrifying little girl that made so little sense.