Vivio let out a heavy sigh and bent over, bracing her hands on her knees for support while she panted for breath.
"Hey, what's the matter, kid, going soft on me?"
She raised her eyes to see Vita come in for a landing.
I'd make a snarky comment, but I need to conserve the oxygen, she said telepathically.
"Mobility and cardiovascular training are vital for a forward. You'll be pushing yourself to your limits both physically and magically, without the kind of opportunities for rest the support types get."
I just don't like the practice days when I don't get to hit back.
Vita chuckled.
"Hey, if you don't hate your drill sergeant at least a little bit she's doing something wrong."
"You must...be great...at this, then..." Vivio wheezed, but she was grinning while she said it.
"Besides, while mock battle's great, it's important to learn to do more than just fight me." She returned her student's grin. "Though unless you get into a brawl with your mom or something you won't have to worry about getting hit any harder."
"Is that something to be proud of?"
"Wiseass."
"Learned from the best!"
"That you did. So how'd you like to prove it?"
"Huh? Is there some competition for smart-mouthed comments?"
Vita groaned.
"Not your mouth, kid, your fighting ability. As in, the TSAB military?"
Vivio perked up immediately.
"Another training mission?" As an officer cadet, she was routinely sent into the field for missions under the command of other mages for seasoning in the practical applications of what she was learning. They were her favorite part of training, since they gave her the chance to actually do some good with her powers.
"Not exactly."
"Mode release," Vivio said, regaining her wind. Her Barrier Jacket was replaced by her ordinary shorts and T-shirt while Parsifal returned to his bracelet standby mode. She began her cool-down stretches. "So if it's not a training mission, what is it, Vita-sensei?"
The redhead grinned at her.
"It's a commissioned post."
Vivio's jaw dropped.
"Eh?"
She was aware that she was looking like a fish, but there wasn't much she could do about it.
"It's a full-time position with a Ground Forces tactical combat unit. There'll be every expectation of regular combat assignments. You'll have a warrant officer's commission until you properly qualify for your lieutenancy."
"Seriously? That's incredible! Vita-sensei, how did this-wait a minute; you said Ground Forces? Did Aunt Hayate have anything to do with this?"
"Well..." Vita glanced aside nervously, as if she was thinking of coming up with some kind of story, but then her nature won out and she spun back to face Vivio directly. "So what the hell if she did? She's having a problem with Signum's unit and you're a good solution. What's wrong with that?"
"You have to ask? Geez, would it be too much to ask for me to ever earn anything in my entire life?"
"What are you talking about? You work damn near as hard as your mothers."
Vivio ticked the list off on her fingers.
"I attend an exclusive private school for a population I'm not part of because of what I am, not who—tuition-free, I might add."
"Yeah, that drives Nanoha crazy," Vita admitted, "but they won't take money for teaching the Sankt Kaiser."
"How did I get my training in scrying magic and my part-time job as an assistant librarian? Because my mother's best friend in the world is the head librarian at the Infinity Library! Heck, how did I qualify for having you as my personal magical-combat trainer, or to get Parsifal as an Intelligent Device? Because of Nanoha-mama and Aunt Hayate."
"Now just wait one minute here, kid. You're an Ancient Belkan user. There's like eight of us in the whole TSAB. A regular combat trainer couldn't give you the hands-on advice you need, just like a device like Parsifal that mimics an Armed Device's function is the only kind that suits your magic!"
Vivio folded her arms across her chest.
"That's true, sensei, but even so, if my last name was Carrera or Smith or Benz instead of Takamachi, would I have ever gotten those opportunities? No, I'd still be lagging behind my class, wondering why I couldn't quite get my spells to work right.
"And now, hey, I'm still two years away from completing my OCS courses, but here comes Aunt Hayate with a commission warrant and a full-time job, Santa Claus delivering out of season!"
"You might want to put your Barrier Jacket back up," Vita growled at her, "'cause I'm about to hit you upside the head for being so stupid!" She slammed Graf Eisen's shaft into her palm to emphasize her point. "You need Shamal to check you out for post-concussion syndrome, or are you just naturally this way? And why is it that whenever you decide to turn your brain off you do it by low-rating the people who care about you? Not to mention yourself."
"Myself?"
"Yeah, yourself. You're top of your class at that fancy school of yours, right?"
"Yes..."
"You trying to tell me that you're not qualified to root out all those obscure books from the library?"
"Well, no—"
"I know a hell of a lot better than you how you're doing in combat training," Vita snapped, "so I'm not even gonna ask that one. So you tell me this: how many scrying mages does the Ground Forces have who are also trained for combat and possess A-rank potential?"
"Scrying mages?"
"What did you think Hayate wanted you for, your fashion sense? Grunts she has, but Signum's Sword Team is way low on operational specialists. Hell, even if you say yes she still might march into the library and haul Yuuno off by force just to get another support mage who won't squish if you look at them wrong."
Vivio shook her head in amazement.
"But I thought I've been training as a forward."
It was a silly comment; she knew as soon as it left her lips that it was going to rub Vita the wrong way.
"We're talking about military service, kid. You apply your skills and training in the way that your commanding officer tells you to. If someone's got better things for you to do than engage in the front line, then you do them, unless you're saying that you're going to turn down the opportunity."
She stopped, then shook her head.
"Look. You're only a cadet, not a serving officer; you don't have to take this assignment if you don't want to. It's an offer, not a draft notice. You want to plod on the long way or you want to go Navy, that's up to you. But don't think that Hayate's doing you any favors by asking for you. You'll work like a dog if I know Signum—and I do—and you'll be out in serious, frontline, I-could-get-killed-out-here battle any time you scramble. Plus you'll have to flip your schedule on its head, cut down to part-time school and keep up with the parts of your OCS that can't be replaced by active-duty service. You're pretty well signing up for a world of punishment."
"That does sound much more attractive, thanks."
Despite herself, Vita laughed.
"Hell, you're serious, aren't you?"
"Actually, well...yes."
"You're turning out more and more like your mom every day."
"That's a good thing, right?"
Vita grinned.
"Kinda depends on who you ask, doesn't it?"
"Well, yeah, anybody who's stared down Raising Heart's pointy end may have some mixed feelings there."
"...Wait, that includes both of us."
Vivio arched her back and stretched, feeling a couple of pops.
"It's a pretty comprehensive list. Which reminds me: Aunt Hayate's sneaky, but she wouldn't go behind Mom's back on trying to jump me to active duty. How did she get it approved?"
Vita snickered.
"Wrong mama."
"Huh? Oh, you mean she cleared it with Fate-mama instead of Nanoha-mama?"
"Right. Fate figured we should sound you out first, then talk to Nanoha about parental approval. Next year you'll be sixteen and wouldn't need it, but for now it's officially required."
"Honestly, I don't think it'll matter that much. But I do want to talk with Nanoha-mama anyway about this. It's a big decision, after all."
"Well, it's part of the 'mom' job description, giving advice on tough life choices."
"Did you...ever think about having children, Vita-sensei?"
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
"C'mon, kid, I'm a program; I can't give birth."
"Um, sensei, you're talking to an artificial mage with two adoptive mothers. The biological problems aren't going to impress me."
"Yeah, point there." Vita glanced aside and down, not meeting Vivio's gaze while she thought over what to say. That in itself surprised Vivio; she'd thought the question might be too personal but not that it would be difficult. When Vita looked up again, her expression was as fierce as her voice. "Okay, you tell this to anyone—especially Nanoha—and I will hammer you so hard you'll come out the other side of the planet, d'you understand?"
Vivio clenched her fist and extended her little finger.
"Pinky swear."
"Okay, then." Vita hooked her pinky with Vivio's to seal the promise. "Actually...that's the problem, kind of."
"Pinky swearing keeps you from having kids?"
"Stuff like that. Kid stuff. Look, you know how my body is permanently stuck like this right? As in, hasn't hit puberty yet, which is why I'm not part of the whole who's-sleeping-with-whom debates?"
"Wait, um, you mean—"
"No sex drive. At all," she said bluntly. "Only way to change it would be to rewrite my program code to age me up, and that's pretty well impossible given that we've all been separated from the Tome of the Night Sky."
"I'm so sorry!" Vivio exclaimed sympathetically.
"Nah, don't be," Vita waved it off. "It's not like it's something I want that my body can't give me. I don't even want it, so it's not something I'm missing."
"Oh. I see, or at least I think so. So that isn't the problem, then?"
Vita shook her head.
"Nah, but it's connected. See, the brain is part of the body, right? So just like the rest of me simulates a little kid's body, so does my head."
"Huh?"
"Hey, I don't understand it either. Get Shamal to explain it to you if you need the details."
"Yeah, but I can't, because I promised not to talk about it."
Vita grinned.
"Score one for you. Anyway, it's like, nerve pathways develop and area of the brain related to judgment and impulse control and all that stuff are still getting put together in someone my age, or your age for that matter. Same way for the rest of the body, hormones and whatnot. So I've got umpty-dozen years of experience and information and emotions and whatnot up here"—she tapped her temple—"but it all gets processed the way a little kid would, see?"
Vivio nodded.
"I...yes, I do see, Vita-sensei."
"So to put it bluntly, I'd be a crappy mama, not because I'm not smart or responsible, but because I can't think like an adult, literally. That's fine in my own life, but for raising a kid? It'd never work, particularly since I'd be a single parent."
"Vita-sensei...that's really sad."
The tiny knight shrugged.
"It is what it is. And I'll be glad to play honorary aunt to Shamal and Zafira's kids, and to pound some tactical sense into the heads of multiple generations of newbies, even if they do insist on shooting up to twice my height."
She looked up at Vivio, grinning.
"Now, speaking of which, if you've got breath to ask embarrassingly personal questions, you've got breath to run with. Let's see if we can't get a few miles in on those stilts of yours."
~X X X~
The crane's claws steadily descended, the massive engine whirring as the arm was lowered. Had the workmen bothered to think of it, they might have been amazed by the strength of the huge device, found it awe-inspiring how it could shift the multi-ton loads effortlessly between the freight beds and the trucks that brought the shipping containers to and from the rail yard. They never did bother, though. To them, it was all just an ordinary part of the job, the enormous forces at play relevant only when something went wrong.
In this case, though, nothing went wrong. The freight train had arrived at Cranagan on schedule, the containers had been offloaded, and now the proper virtual documentation had been presented.
The truck driver was young for his job, only twenty or so. His clothes were a little flashy, cut more to impress at a club rather than for rugged work. The foreman didn't care. What was it to him if some kid ended up getting stains on his favorite pants because he didn't know to save them for his leisure time? That inexperience was probably why the kid was handling in-city cargo delivery instead of road hauling.
With a loud clunk the container was settled in place on the wheel frame. The yard workers shot the locking bars into place and the crane's claws detached. The arm raised up, the boom already pivoting towards the next job. The driver settled behind the wheel and strapped himself in; the foreman made the proper notations on his record, made sure the crane was clear, and gave the driver an OK-to-go wave.
Delivery was complete.
~X X X~
A/N: Vita's "every time you turn your brain off" comment was, of course, a reference to "Steel Wings...and to a certain extent, though she doesn't actually realize it, to "Caramel Milk." Vivio's got some "famous family" issues mixed in with her "Saint-Emporer clone" issues...or in other words, every now and again she really wants to fit in and it leads her to badly misjudge her place in life. Thankfully she should grow out of it.