queenoflogs | Well, the weather outside is frightful

Characters: Everyone!
Date: Midnight the 16th of December
Summary: The inhabitants of the Garden get their reward for making out beneath the mistletoe, in the form of a lights show in the sky.
Warnings: N/A

In the dead of night, the Garden is dead silent. Without the sound of the city or urban life, only the noises of nature pervade the air. Crickets. Rustling leaves. The occasional footsteps of an animal.

However, tonight, at midnight, the silence is broken by a loud pealing of bells, rousing the people of the garden from their sleep. The bells continue ringing for nearly half a minute before falling silent. For a moment, the peacefulness of night returns to the Gardens.

Then the enormous mistletoe plant begins glowing, with a brilliant white light bright enough to be seen from all corners of the Garden. It fizzes, shooting off heatless sparks, and then bursts, shooting up into the sky and breaking into pieces of glowing light, forming various shapes. Above the Orchard, a series of hearts form, burst like fireworks, and reform. Over the Necessities, nymphs made of sparkling light kiss and dance through the sky, winking down at the people below. Over the ruins, flowers of multicolored light pop into existence and disperse. And above the Viridian Pavilion, fiery red phoenixes swoop through the air, burn out dramatically, and are reborn in a new cascade of light.

The show will continue until morning. Fortunately, now that the mistletoe's light has dispersed, it's not so bright that it should keep people awake.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I've never heard of that planet before..." for once, Ryoko was a little genuinely surprised at the new data. Perhaps the Entity wasn't as all-knowing as it should be.

"Are you saying you're an extra-terrestrial? I never would've guessed!" Ryoko wondered if she was supposed to feel some kind of kinship at this, but she honestly couldn't be bothered with that kind of processing.

"I'm not surprised," she admits, even though she is always hopeful that eventually it will ring a bell with someone besides Vivio. At the other statement, she laughs a bit. "You could say that! I've visited Earth a few times before; Japan, specifically. It's not all that different from some parts of Mid-Childa, even if it's not developed on the same level." Which is said casually and without any hint of looking down on the fact.

"Where are you from, Asakura?"

"I'd love to have an exotic heritage like yours! But I suppose I'm not interesting enough to be an alien, so I'm still from Japan and little old planet earth for now. Perhaps my life story is much less exciting than yours, but if you ever need any help with any vague earth customs, I'll try to be of help!" she gave a light laugh at the irony.

"Development-wise, exactly how far behind are we compared to other planets out there?"

With a faint blush creeping to her cheeks at the compliment, Subaru waves her hand. "I-it's nothing special, really!" And, honestly, it's only the half of it. "Our Captain, Nanoha Takamachi, was from Earth and she is one of the strongest Mages in the entire service! The Ace of Aces!" Okay, simmer down, Subaru. Your inner fangirl is showing.

"...but I visited her home once, and saw her family, while we were there on a mission. She had such a normal life before she discovered her powers, so you could say that the potential is in any one of us."

As for that last part, she chuckles sheepishly and scratches at her cheek. "I don't think I could really put it in perspective really well, in terms of years... but the Earth I know doesn't have a lot of space exploration under its belt yet, or a lot of sanctioned magic users, or things like that."

"Magical abilities, you mean? Well, it's certainly a nice idea." Ryoko hummed thoughtfully, tapping her cheek with a finger. "People find it reassuring to think that there's something special about themselves, but I suppose it's rare for that to be magic. Could you detect the potential? For example, would you be able to tell if I had it?"

It seemed like the earth that the other girl had come from and the earth that Ryoko was familiar with had some stark differences. Perhaps she came from the future, or just from another alternate universe. How peculiar.

Subaru shakes her head again. "No, I can't do anything like that. It's not in the skills I was trained with. That's more of a support role, I think, and I'm what we called a Forward — a front-line Mage."

A bit of a sigh, Subaru slid her legs off of the edge of the Road on her side and looked upward. "It's not even genetic. I don't think any of Nanoha's parents have the ability, and while all my sisters and my brother have it, and my mom had it..." There is a momentary pause. "Dad is normal, but he is in the Ground Forces, as well."

"It'll just be another mystery for now, right? Well, even if you're just one of the fortunate few with these powers, it's nice of you to be able to use them to help others," Ryoko laughed a little and winked. "Even if it's for something as small as watching fireworks with an ordinary human like me. I really do appreciate it!"

She turned a bit in place and smiled right back at the other girl. "You're welcome, Asakura. I'd much rather use my powers for something like this if I can help it." The sad fact is that, back home, she rarely could be so casual and free with it. Subaru won't let those thoughts come to mind right now, though.

"I can't believe it's still going on," she said as she faced forward once more, covering her yawning face with a hand.

"It must be for an amazing cause. Too bad we have no idea what for, hmm?" she feigned a yawn, too--for some reason, humans thought them contagious, right? How odd they are.

"It's nice, but maybe watching until the end isn't worth losing beauty sleep over. What do you think?"

"Maybe the Queen will tell us, soon... if she's the one behind it, I mean." Subaru has no honest clue. She moves to stand, stretching her arms out above her head. "Mmm, I think you're right. I'm just glad it wasn't an emergency like I first thought. Those bells had me all worked up!"

Then she turned to offer the girl a hand in standing. "Would you like me to walk you to where you're staying?"

"Well, it wouldn't be nice to leave anyone in the dark. Let's hope that she'll be kind enough to enlighten us later!" she offered Subaru a grateful smile as she accepted the other girl's hand and pulled herself up, dusting off her skirt a little. "And it's very kind of you to offer, but I believe I'll be fine by myself."

Without knowing whether she needed to be carried back down or not, Ryoko just let her hand stay in Subaru's.

"Okay then. Hang on just one more time!" Fortunately, getting down is a lot swifter, so the next verse is quicker than the first. Once down, Subaru makes sure everything looks fine before she outright dispels the Wing Road. "That was fun. Thanks for coming up and talking with me." Since she had to admit, it was pretty sight, but also something best shared with others.

"Now, I should be the one thanking you for the view and conversation," Ryoko admonished lightly, but she was grinning. "But I agree, this was quite fun. I do hope I'll see you again sometime!"

Well, she supposed the other girl made a decent enough study subject. Perhaps she had other interesting abilities. And, in the meantime, it never hurt to appear friendly--how easily humans were manipulated.

She suspects absolutely nothing because, well, doubting everyone you meet is no way to live. Subaru scratched her head a moment. Ryoko had a point, there, so she smiled in return. "Me, too, Asakura."

She backs up on her skates. "Be safe, and have a good night!" With a final wave, she spins around and starts her way back toward the inn.

Well, the weather outside is frightful

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