1298/Ice Cream With The Enemy

Ice Cream With The Enemy
Date of Scene:	08 January 2015
Location:	Bar and Grill at the Edge of the Multiverse
Synopsis:	A 9 year old and an 18 year old walk into the Bar and Grill. They sit and eat ice cream while VERY AWKWARDLY shoot the breeze.
Thanks to:	Fate for being adorkable.
Cast of Characters:	162, 401

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Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    Most establishments don't allow dogs on premesis. Arf is something of a special case in the fact that she is both a dog and a person, yet still, the red-haired wolf-woman is left behind, much to her dismay when Fate up and leaves the Testarossa family's house in the citadel's residential sector.

    "Fate? Faaaaate? Fate where did you go?" Alas, no answer comes, and the Familiar realizes she is well and truly alone.

    Water goes immediately to boil as she reeeeaaaches for the cabinets and finds...

    Arf is too short in her little-girl form to reach the high cabinet where the ramen is kept.

    "NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

    That's back home. Though the Overly Dramatic Scream might be possibly heard from all the way at the citadel. Here at the Bar and Grill at the Edge of the Multiverse it's a different matter. A young blonde girl in a black frilly casual dress sits alone, staring hard at the table in front of her. Fate pointedly left Arf behind, and she's relying on the implicit trust that nothing bad will happen at the bar because of The Rules. But the fact of the matter is... This is going to be ice cream with a TSAB member, and the girl has made it plainly obvious that she trusts members of the TSAB about as far as she can throw them.

    Nine year old arms are not very strong for throwing people.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    It's not standard practice, but to Zephyr? The rules can go take a hike. The older teen enters the Bar and Grill wearing a yellow t-shirt, and a pair of cargo pants with a belt, and a pair of sun-yellow sneakers. She's tied her hair back in a modest ponytail. She's not wearing that bracer she always wears, meaning she's left her Device at home today.

    It doesn't take long to spot the blonde haired girl. She offers a smile as she strides on over, plonking herself down in a nearby seat. "Hey." she offers in greeting.

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    It's not standard practice, it's awkward practice. If not for the fight with the Mariage forging that flickeringly brief alliance this would probably not be happening. Fate would be at home, spending time with Alicia and Nanoha, and Zephyr would be doing whatever she normally does on an evening like this.
    Still, Fate Testarossa is a girl of her word, which means when the appointed day finally came, she didn't welch.
    "Mn."
    It's not exactly much of a greeting. In fact eye contact seems hard. Bardiche IS with her, pinned as an ornament on the black choker of her dress, but remains idle for the time being as Fate buries her face in the desert menu. "Hi."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr picks up her own menu. "How's th'family?" she asks conversationally. "An' how're you after we finished off th'Mariage an' th'Book of Darkness?" she adds. She certainly seems genuine, but she couldn't be, could she?

    The teen lifts a hand, to summon service, and orders a bowl of raspberry ripple with a wafer. "You leave your Familiar behind? I bet she's worried about you."

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    Arf is so worried about Fate that she has found a step ladder.

    Certainly her quest for ramen shall not be deterred, taill wagging as she ascends to culinary heaven.

    "I'm sure she'll live."

    The cabinet opens.

    The ramen is all the way at the top. Just a single step out of reach.

    "WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"

    Fate's pointedly set distraction for her wolf familiar should give her some time to actually socialize before she goes home. ... Or at least try to socialize. It's clearly not easy for the girl. For all the frigid wall she puts up on the field, in a much more casual situation it falters drastically, resulting in an occasional fidget and shift on her seat. "They're fine. Safe." Her reply is a little curt in regards to Precia and Alicia, giving up no true information out of sheer paranoid; almost religious devotion to her mother and sister.

    "I'm... Alright." That one is a little more honest, judging from the slightly hesitant pause.

    For the record she orders double chocolate.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr smirks a bit at the faltering ice wall. "You don't have to hold stuff back. I don't have my Device with me so I can't record anything." she remarks, bowing her head as her icecream is brought over. "I'm glad you're alright though. That was a pretty gutsy move, getting right up in the Defense Programs grill like that." she remarks. "I'm impressed."

    She falls silent for a moment after that. Not polite to jabber away, after all.

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    It's not about the Device, or the conversation being recorded. Even when her ice cream arrives, the small blonde seems genuinely stuck on... How to interact with someone outside of her normal circle.

    So for a moment, Fate focuses on slowly whittling away on her own ice cream, one foot tucking behind the other under the table as burgundy eyes finally sneak a glance upwards.

    "I'm not always full of good ideas."

    Throwing herself at the Defense Program like that was probably at the top of the list of Very Bad Ideas. So she shrugs.

    "I just remembered that girl."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr nods slowly. "I'm just kinda surprised. You're always so calculated. Being impulsive doesn't seem like you." she replies. "Glad t'know you're not completely frozen on the inside."

    A soft chuckle as she whittles away at her bowl, before she grows a bit more serious. "You've got similar ideals to me, I guess. I'll put my life on the line for someone I care about. No hesitation, no regrets."

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    "You don't know me." It's not exactly the warmest reply, but it's not -harsh- either. Still, there are marked differences from Fate, and the Fates on record with the Union. Like the fact she actually IS more impulsive than past iterations. Doubly, or perhaps even triple more so. But the girl averts her gaze again briefly. Of course she's not made wholly of ice.

    "But... I'd do anything for my family." That much is true as she plays with her ice cream more than she eats it for a moment. Before finally getting up the gusto to carve off a huge spoonful and shove it in her mouth.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    "You're right. I don't." replies the teen. "But I want to get to know you, even if we're on opposing sides." she adds. Zephyr is just Impulsive personified.

    "Yeah, I'd do anything for my Dad." she returns, scooping a spoonful and sucking on it thoughtfully.

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    This is growing awkward by the minute; and the longer Fate isn't in the presence of a member of her very small and direct social circle, the more uncomfortable she seems to become. To her credit she hasn't snapped at Zephyr too harshly, nor has she simply gotten up and walked off either, despite the complete alarm bells in her head regarding someone both Union AND TSAB trying to get to know her. Fate's trust levels extend about as far as she can throw people, and when it comes down to it, she is a nine year old girl with delicately thin looking arms.

    "... Your father?" She ventures after a beat, daring to try and find some common ground. As she said, Fate would go to any length for Precia, after all. So what of Zephyr and her father?

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr nods. She can feel the awkwardness. Fate's been eternally hostile from the get go, so it's to her credit that the little blonde hasn't just up and bugged out, or even showed up at all. "Yeah, since Mom died, he's always been there for me. We sometimes don't see eye to eye, and I actually ran away from home because of a disagreement we had, but I love him dearly." she sighs. "My heart nearly broke when the Magus Foundry woke up on my homeworld and wreaked havoc there. I thought he was dead." she then chuckles gently. "Shoulda known better than to doubt th'old bastard. Tougher than old boot leather."

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    Fate's face is a troubled display of fluttering emotions, but mostly set somewhere in the range of pursed lips, ice mask, and occasionally dipping into a frown. It's probably the admission of the argument and running away that earns a frigid look. But it lasts for only a beat, maybe.

    She takes a moment to whittle at her ice cream before formulating a more sociable response, rather than the one that first leaps into her gut. "Mmh. I always listen to mother." Given softly. And it's true. Precia was all the girl had to know for a while, she's more than just a little indoctrinated, in away. It's good at least that her Precia wasn't mad like others on file. But... "... Mother was always strong, too."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    "Hey, don't get me wrong... Dad's looking out for what's best for me." replies Zephyr a bit defensively at that icy glare. "Under my own admission, I'm just a rock-headed, stubborn girl." she explains. "'Just like your Mother', he'd say." It's Zephyr's turn to look down into her ice cream bowl, turning the remainder over with her spoon as it melts. "Dad isn't a combat mage... he's got a /lot/ of mana, but no ability to tap it outside of maintaining Darma. He's a /great/ Device Meister though... he's the one that built Divine Wind for me."

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    Fate doesn't so much soften as much as she doesn't harden any further. Take it as a blessing, really. At least because the Marchian mage acknowledges her father's desire for her wellbeing. "You should stop that." Being stubborn, she means, before spooning another scoop of ice cream up. "Mother is... Good with Famliars. Her Familiar Linith taught me almost everything, before mother took over my training." A pause. "... Linith actually designed and constructed Bardiche." She adds, with a small, wordless, ping from the golden triangular medallion on her choker.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    "I think Linith and Dad would get along like a house on fire." she offers with a smile. "And, stoppin' being stubborn isn't exactly easy, y'know?" she remarks, pointedly peering at the younger mage. "You could do with loosenin' up a bit too." she suggests, before spooning up another scoop of ice cream. "Back home, we call Familiars 'Guardians' cuz there's a group of 'em that seem t'use ambient magic to sustain 'emselves without a master... Don't ask me how it works, I dunno. Darma used t'be one of 'em, before she took Dad as her Master."

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    "... Like a... House on fire?" The poor girl doesn't seem to get it. Blame it on being so sheltered, as she scrunches her nose in a flutter of confusion at the turn of phrase. But then she clears her throat. She is perfectly capable of loosening up. When around Nanoha, Precia, Linith, Arf, or Alicia. Just not HERE and now. So she opts to evade that sentiment by prodding at her ice cream with her spoon.

    "Isn't that what the Book of Darkness called Zafira?" She muses. A Guardian Beast. Something like that anyway. But then another thought strikes her.

    "It wasn't long after I started training with Linith. We found Arf alone. Abandoned by her pack and dying. ... I couldn't just let it happen so..." The rest is unsaid, but it's a story no one else aside Linith has heard. Fate couldn't let the wolf pup just die, so she made her into a Familiar in a lonely act of kindness at the time.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    "So you gave her a second chance." finishes Zephyr. "I knew you were a good person at heart." she adds, before plopping her spoon down in her now empty bowl. "I guess the term Guardian came from the Belkan phrase for Familiars... Marchian magic mixes Belkan and Mid-Childan forms, after all." she shrugs a bit. "Iunno the details, still getting my braincase back in line after the Magus Foundry incident." There's probably archives of the reports from back then. Nasty busines with a Lost Logia that churned out a numberless hoard of proto-Familiars using anything living it could get its grubby manipulators on.

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    Now something of a look flutters across Fate's face. Something between consternation and vaguely mild confusion. "Did you think I was a bad person, before?" Her own bowl is close to empty, but she's not much interested in it anymore, simply prodding now and then with the tip of her spoon. For now though, Fate will probably have to get her hands on those archives. Perhaps later; when not busy being horribly socially awkward.

    Bardiche pens it on her reminders list, like a helpful smartphone AI.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    "Well all I had to go on was getting my ass kicked without any kind of explanation from you, and being called an 'amatuer' all the time, so..." she trails, shrugging broadly. "Anyway... I think that's my debt paided off... but if y'wanna do this again sometime, maybe you could bring Nanoha along too." she offers. "I think they have a kareoke machine here somewhere."

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    To be fair, in Fate's defense, she wasn't much willing to brook intrusions from Zephyr at the time. Again lips purse as she sets her spoon down. If anything the suggestion for karaoke and bringing Nanoha along catches the small blonde completely off guard. Her lips flap for a beat with no words, before she glances aside, pointedly trying to find something more interesting to look at.

    "... S... Sorry."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    "For what?" asks the older mage, furrowing her brow a bit at the fluster. "Hey, I understand you had your reasons. I mean, hell who doesn't in the Multiverse? I'm fully expecting to get beat to hell and back again, next time we square off on th'battlefield. No hard feelin's, s'all business."