Not much to say? Other than that I started kicking myself an hour after updating the last chapter because I forgot to mention the fanart from Natsuki Ayaka. Weeeell, here's a link now, and I'll mention it again with the next chapter! http: /natsuki ayaka. deviantart. com/#/ d46cclo

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Drabble Collection 3

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More crustaceous cacti. I was particularly wary of those yellow spines now. That backfired, though, when I started paying a little less attention to the pincers. Just a moment of distraction, and then my braid got caught in one. Which resulted in me running after it rather than having the hair yanked right out of my head.

I saw Yuri preparing his sword and glared at him as best I could while my head was at such a weird angle. "If you're going to cut my braid I swear I'll throw your sword down that aer krene back in the Weasand!" The katana's path swerved to the side last second to cut the monster's pincer off, allowing me to extract my intact hair from the dead appendage.

"You wouldn't really do that...would you?" Yuri asked with just a hint of concern while watching me run my hands over my braid over and over, like an obsessive cat cleaning its whiskers.

I only grumbled, not even looking at him, "Don't you ever dare try it just to find out."

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Ballads

Yuri: Not good.

Karol: What's wrong?

Yuri: Letha's getting worse.

Karol: Wait, you mean...?

Yuri: 'Fraid so.

Estelle: What? Did she get hurt?

Rita: No, she's just gradually losing whatever sanity she had to begin with. What's she babbling about now?

Yuri: It's even worse than you think. She's reciting love poems.

Karol, Rita, & Estelle: L-love poems?

*Letha enters*

Letha: -going to Scaaarborough faaaair...Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyyyyme...Remember me to one who lives the~re...She once was a true love of miiiine...

Estelle: Maybe she's getting sick...

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His hands weren't full so it wasn't really really necessary to kick the door to open it.

He did it anyway. So sue him, it hadn't been easy to find the papers he'd needed. And while Chase didn't really want to blame Letha...the way unexpected things happened each time he saw her was not very conducive to his other work.

As if paperwork isn't enough of a pain. Thought I'd left it behind on Earth with high school!

Well, he was done with it now. "About goddamned time," he griped aloud, letting himself fall onto the provided bed heavily. Be just his luck if one of the springs broke just then. He tossed the stack of papers into the air, for the moment not caring that he'd have to pick them up and sort them again. Maybe Al would do it.

He'd been able to enjoy the rest for only a minute when he heard, "What a shame, if only you'd done something more interesting. Perhaps stripped and changed your clothes."

"Hey Al, didn't think you'd drop by til later," Chase waved listlessly towards the window. Alastor had a habit of hiding in his room while waiting for him, and today he was leaning casually against the wall on the far side of the room, the window in the space between him and the desk. Funny, he normally picks a spot where people wouldn't see him easily, just in case a maid sticks her head in or something. He's right in the open there. "What's that about stripping?"

"It would have been amusing to see Letha's reaction. Maybe a good show would have convinced her to linger outside your window awhile longer."

Chase bolted upright, making the bedsprings squeal. "What? She was just there?"

"No need to worry," Alastor assured him gleefully, "I was completely in her blind spot right here."

Groaning, Chase fell back again. "Dammit Al..." The fairy only chuckled.

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Damn, that was one hell of a weird girl.

And it was partly because he'd been so sure that she was normal, with just a few odd quirks in the mix. He supposed one could say she was still normal, just 'Earth normal' and not 'normal normal'.

"So what do ya think, kid?" he asked the ex-Knight. "Do ya believe her?"

Yuri was still standing with his back to the door, eyes narrowed in thought as he stared out the window. Or in the window's general direction. It was probably safe to bet the ex-knight wasn't really seeing it. Maybe beyond, trying to spy out that star the girl had said was her home?

"Heeey, you still in there?"

The farseeing dark eyes closed. "I believe her," he said simply.

Curious, he dug a bit deeper, "And how's that?"

The ex-Knight shrugged, "Call it a hunch? What it comes down to is that of all the stories she's given before about herself, this is the one that makes most sense for her to have covered up. Though there's still some questions she hasn't answered yet." The dark eyes opened again and looked over. "What about you, old man? You don't seem all that surprised."

Like hell he wasn't surprised. But he supposed this explained why she'd been so protective and secretive about that strange music box earlier. Not that he intended to bring that up. "Oh I'm surprised, I think the shock of meeting a real live alien has taken a few years offa my life!"

The ex-Knight snorted at him. "You realize you first heard about aliens from her, right?"

"She'd be the authority on the subject here." He crossed his arms behind his head in the casual pose he often affected. "But ya know, that's why I believe her."

Yuri crossed his own arms over his chest, "You do, huh?"

"Yup. She mentioned that 'lightyear' thing, didn't she? Told us what it was just like that. Most people don' come up with lies that easy when on the spot."

"She's had practice."

He winked at the other, "'N that's why I kept askin'. If she'd been makin' that part up, she would have made up a number ta go with it."

The younger man shook his head wonderingly. "Pretty sly, old man. Guess you're some use when you want to be."

He might have said a bit too much on the subject by revealing that ploy, but having a bit of help in dealing with the girl could go a long way.

She was normal. She was nice. And she had a whole other side to her that they would hardly have guessed at before.

Not even Alexei could have guessed this much about her. But in that case, what else could there be that the Commandant would want from her?

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First: Originally a scene in chapter 39, then I took a different direction. But I thought this was funny, so I saved it as a drabble instead of deleting it. It would even be a good way to lead into the "Hair Care" skit.

Second: Classic Hits was fun, but before I heard "Horse With No Name" on the radio (while thinking about the chapter) I'd already had the idea to have Letha singing some random song because the heat impaired her normally self conscious judgment. There were several songs I considered, including "Eyes On Me" (from Final Fantasy 8) and "Scarborough Fair" (Which was used above) for the humor value of her being over dramatic and sappy. In the end I think I made the right choice, but couldn't leave the others entirely alone.

Third: Heheheh, happens during chapter 46, easy enough to pick out when, and seriously what I was thinking when I was writing about Letha's exploits.

Fourth: More Raven/Schwann thoughts. Not as good as the omake dedicated to the workings of his mind, but provides some insight to what the men thought of Letha's confession.