[Nanoha/Vividred] All the colours of the Earth
- Thread starter Baughn
- Start date
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
I could have tackled this one of two ways.veekie said:
The other approach would have involved too much editing of backstory, too far a distance from what Earth is doing, therefore I'm going with the first one:
Your quote does not apply here. Spellfire is absolutely lethal, unless you're very careful.
- Location
- Budapest, Hungary
So no Starlight Beaker, unless the fight is within a barrier.Baughn said:
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Monday, 8th March: 1.2
Arisa watched with concern, rapidly growing into terror, as Nanoha clutched her head and fell to her knees. Something was clearly horribly wrong - they needed to get help now. Nanoha's pained expression alone was terrifying enough, but she was also having trouble standing, though thankfully Suzuka had caught her before she managed to hit her head on the entangled roots they'd been walking on.
"Nanoha!" She said, voice raised in alarm. She waited a moment, then frowned unhappily at Nanoha's lack of response. They should call someone, but she didn't have any way to do so, and she knew Nanoha never did. Suzuka might, but she was occupied keeping their friend upright - to all appearances carrying her entire weight -
It was up to her. Arisa gulped, then put her plan into action.
"Suzuka, did you bring a pad? Where is it?"
Suzuka nodded. "Back pocket, but - Eep!"
Arisa had stepped in closer, and was patting down Suzuka's trousers to find it. She grimaced when that failed to immediately bring a result.
"Where?"
"Left pocket. It's tiny, you won't be able to find it just like that, and -"
Right, there it was. Arisa smiled triumphantly, pulling out a small slate-shaped brick. Tiny, right… was this one of those morphable ones? She experimentally tugged in a few directions until it more or less came apart, unfolding to a much larger shape. The screen lit up.
"Ali, stop, it won't -"
Arisa blinked. Screen lock? Face recognition, passphrase? Um -
"Suzuka, how do you use this thing?" She asked plaintively.
Oh, there was an emergency dialler option.
Her focus was broken by Suzuka's annoyed voice. "You don't! Stop that, give it back. Better yet, hold Nanoha while I make the call. I think she's getting better, but she isn't standing on her own yet." She continued in a weak voice. "…or responding. Nanoha? Say something?"
That made sense. She was so stressed out, she'd overlooked the obvious.
They switched - Suzuka holding Nanoha with one arm while Arisa passed her the pad - and Arisa found herself nearly buckling under the weight. She'd lifted Nanoha before, in gym class and whatnot, but that never felt like this; Nanoha wasn't cooperating at all. She eventually wound up pushing her partially over one shoulder, making their position at least somewhat stable. This gave her an excellent vantage point when Nanoha started squirming and mumbling.
"- Me down, 'Risa. Someone's hurt -"
"Yeah, you," Arisa grumbled. Put her down? She'd fall over. "Suzuka, are you getting through?"
"Almost. Um, should I call her home or -"
"Hospital, of course," Arisa said in frustration. Nanoha was quieting down a little. She wasn't sure if that was good or not, but she was going to guess "not", just to be on the safe side.
"- 'm not -"
Nanoha drew a breath, then continued in a slightly more normal voice. "I'm not - hurt. Not like that. It just took me by surprise, that's all. Don't call the hospital."
Suzuka paused whatever she was doing, looking skeptically at Nanoha, and Arisa shook her head. "Not hurt? You can't even stand!"
"- 's because - show you -"
Nanoha feebly pushed away from Arisa, who could feel her temper building. Really, this is what they were doing now? That girl could be really… exasperating, at times, and although she was kind of standing on her own now, Arisa still had to help her stay upright. Sometimes she wished she could have a friend - just one would do - who wasn't completely bonkers.
"So should I call anyone, or -" Suzuka timidly asked, and Arisa sighed. Right, no calling Suzuka bonkers, especially not when she was acting normal.
"Don't bother." Nanoha shook her head, then immediately winced and leaned a little more on Arisa again. "I know what's wrong, and I've already been to the hospital. It isn't anything they can help with, really. Well, not for me - there's someone else hurt, I heard them -"
Arisa stared incredulously at her. There definitely hadn't been anything to hear, she would have noticed. Nanoha must have realised that, though, because she went on to defend herself.
"It's like the way I always know where my sister is. I'm sure you noticed…"
She supposed she had, but - "I always thought that was because you're twins, sort of. You know, like in books." Though she hadn't honestly given it very much thought.
"Twins are supposed to be the same age, Arisa. Or at least related." Suzuka sounded amused, and Arisa flushed. S-so what? Those two got along so well, they might as well be twins!
"It's not like that," Nanoha said. "I promise I'll explain later, but -" She continued in a somewhat weaker, anxious tone. "Someone's hurt, and close by. We need to find them. Arisa, please."
That tone, that expression. Arisa frowned, realising she didn't really have a choice in the matter. If she didn't go along, Nanoha would badger her until she did - and Suzuka would help her.
With a sigh, she gave in.
"All right, I'll go search. Suzuka, stay here - don't let Nanoha go anywhere. What direction?"
Really, the more she thought about it the less sensible Nanoha's claim became. Sure she'd seen her family do some weird martial arts tricks, but how did that translate to hearing people when no-one else could? And instead, she was dodging oak trees and -
Arisa clamped her hand around a vine in order to pull herself over a particularly evil-looking bush, then felt a sharp pain in her thumb. She instinctively drew back, only to see an upwelling of blood from where a thorn had punched right through her skin.
She could feel her lower lip quivering.
…Enough!
"Hey, is anyone here?" She shouted, hoping someone would answer and she could get out of here already. Come to think of it, she should have been doing that all along - she hadn't thought of it -
A bush somewhat further ahead shook, the movement catching her eye. She blinked, and started - carefully - moving forwards again, wondering if that might be the person Nanoha had talked about. If so, why they weren't responding? Were they hurt, like Nanoha had been? That'd explain it.
Once she'd crossed half the distance, she tried again. "Are you there?"
The bush shook somewhat more forcefully, and she thought she could see a pair of eyes inside.
Wait -
"Get back! Run!" Someone screamed from behind her. She twisted on the spot, almost catching her foot on an errant branch, then - incredulously - spotted a boy her age who had somehow materialised a few meters back. He was wearing odd clothes, but at a glance he looked pretty thoroughly scraped up. Was this the person Nanoha had -
She could see his face light up in fear, and heard a kind of gurgling growl from behind her. The bush - those eyes - too big -
She ran without looking back, heart hammering in her chest, and when she passed the boy she grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her. Shortly afterwards he was the one pulling her, taking paths she wouldn't even have considered that were somehow faster than the way she'd come. All the while something was following behind them, some monster, she had to get away right away, please -
She realised she was leading it towards Nanoha and Suzuka only a few seconds before they burst out onto the path where she'd left them.
The silence stretched. Suzuka fiddled with her fingers. Normally Nanoha would be the one to talk, taking the lead if Arisa wasn't around, but she wasn't saying anything - actually, she'd leaned back against a tree and was seemingly resting, eyes closed. Suzuka had a lot of questions, though.
Time passed, until finally she couldn't hear Arisa forcing her way through the undergrowth anymore.
At least Nanoha didn't seem to be in pain anymore. Her face was smooth; Suzuka felt sure she'd otherwise be able to tell. She sat down next to her and tried to get comfortable while she waited for something to happen.
Nothing did.
Well…
"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked.
Nanoha nodded, shallowly.
Well, then. It was a nice day, the sun was shining brightly between the leaves, there was just a hint of breeze, and she might as well make herself comfortable while they waited. She shifted slightly, snuggling up to Nanoha - if nothing else, it'd reassure her that she wasn't going anywhere - then leaned backwards and closed her eyes against the sun.
Shortly afterwards she felt Nanoha's head on her shoulder, and allowed her own to rest against her friend's. The situation was odd, but this was still - nice, even if they were completely missing out on cram school. The heat was enough for her to quickly drop off into sleep.
Spotlight - she was shifting side to side - they had to find it! The treasure had fallen overboard, they had to find - no, Arisa, don't aim that at me, too bright -
She was surrounded by a dizzying smell of flowers, pink cherry blossoms flying everywhere, like in a storm. She felt happy - sated - warm and comfortable. Wait, someone was shouting - what was that?
"Suzuka! Get up, we have to run!"
Was that Arisa? She sounded frightened.
Suzuka forced herself awake, feeling completely groggy. What -
She blinked sleepily. That was Arisa, yes. What was she saying?
"Suzuka!"
Arisa burst out of the forest with a scattering of leaves. Next to her was a boy she didn't know - a hurt boy, which matched Nanoha's claim - and behind them was -
Two meters tall, to all appearances a ball of darkness with a single pair of red, staring eyes floating in the middle, but it didn't roll like a ball should - there was something she couldn't see, something almost but not quite visible, something like tentacles it used to pull itself forwards.
The monster snapped into focus, and Suzuka stared; she could do little else. Not just darkness; darkness with tentacles, which were lit from the inside by strands of blue light filtering out from a central core that was almost too bright to look at. Paradoxically it still absorbed the light around it, casting a shadow even deeper than its own bizarrely bright-yet-shadowed form.
Arisa took one good look at the two of them, then tore herself loose and came to a stop between them and the monster. The boy staggered another few meters before coming to a halt, ending up behind them.
"Oh, no," she heard him saying. "No, no, no -"
She tuned him out, instead focusing on pulling herself and Nanoha to their feet. To her vast relief Nanoha had no trouble standing this time, but she still looked groggy.
The monster came to a halt a few meters from Arisa, then hissed. Not like a cat; like an angry locomotive. Something about it called to her - it looked pretty, where it wasn't a horrible ugly shadow monster - but it was still, overall, a horrible ugly shadow monster, and she wanted to wake up now. Please?
The boy dug a jewel of some sort out of his pockets, then flinched, leaning against a convenient tree and carefully putting all his weight on only a single foot. Nanoha looked at what was happening, then paled. Arisa took up some sort of martial arts stance that looked like a parody of Nanoha's…
"Run, already!" She shouted, sounding panicked. "I'll try to keep it here, so - you two run -" Arisa's voice was breaking, by the end. She probably had a very good idea of what that would do.
Suzuka shook off the last of the cobwebs. This - this wasn't a dream, was it? This was real, monster and all.
A second passed while her thoughts twirled. She didn't know what to do, but there was one thing she was sure of: Like hell she'd leave Arisa here on her own.
Suzuka:
[ ] Grab the boy, ask him for help
[ ] Run straight in, grab Arisa, run
[ ] Run straight in, punch the horrid thing in its face
[ ] Write-in
A/N: And a shift from 2nd to 3rd person, because 3rd person is just plain better. I'll rewrite 1.1 later. I'm going to be experimental in a different way, instead: You don't get a single character to control, it'll depend on the exact situation.
Arisa watched with concern, rapidly growing into terror, as Nanoha clutched her head and fell to her knees. Something was clearly horribly wrong - they needed to get help now. Nanoha's pained expression alone was terrifying enough, but she was also having trouble standing, though thankfully Suzuka had caught her before she managed to hit her head on the entangled roots they'd been walking on.
"Nanoha!" She said, voice raised in alarm. She waited a moment, then frowned unhappily at Nanoha's lack of response. They should call someone, but she didn't have any way to do so, and she knew Nanoha never did. Suzuka might, but she was occupied keeping their friend upright - to all appearances carrying her entire weight -
It was up to her. Arisa gulped, then put her plan into action.
"Suzuka, did you bring a pad? Where is it?"
Suzuka nodded. "Back pocket, but - Eep!"
Arisa had stepped in closer, and was patting down Suzuka's trousers to find it. She grimaced when that failed to immediately bring a result.
"Where?"
"Left pocket. It's tiny, you won't be able to find it just like that, and -"
Right, there it was. Arisa smiled triumphantly, pulling out a small slate-shaped brick. Tiny, right… was this one of those morphable ones? She experimentally tugged in a few directions until it more or less came apart, unfolding to a much larger shape. The screen lit up.
"Ali, stop, it won't -"
Arisa blinked. Screen lock? Face recognition, passphrase? Um -
"Suzuka, how do you use this thing?" She asked plaintively.
Oh, there was an emergency dialler option.
Her focus was broken by Suzuka's annoyed voice. "You don't! Stop that, give it back. Better yet, hold Nanoha while I make the call. I think she's getting better, but she isn't standing on her own yet." She continued in a weak voice. "…or responding. Nanoha? Say something?"
That made sense. She was so stressed out, she'd overlooked the obvious.
They switched - Suzuka holding Nanoha with one arm while Arisa passed her the pad - and Arisa found herself nearly buckling under the weight. She'd lifted Nanoha before, in gym class and whatnot, but that never felt like this; Nanoha wasn't cooperating at all. She eventually wound up pushing her partially over one shoulder, making their position at least somewhat stable. This gave her an excellent vantage point when Nanoha started squirming and mumbling.
"- Me down, 'Risa. Someone's hurt -"
"Yeah, you," Arisa grumbled. Put her down? She'd fall over. "Suzuka, are you getting through?"
"Almost. Um, should I call her home or -"
"Hospital, of course," Arisa said in frustration. Nanoha was quieting down a little. She wasn't sure if that was good or not, but she was going to guess "not", just to be on the safe side.
"- 'm not -"
Nanoha drew a breath, then continued in a slightly more normal voice. "I'm not - hurt. Not like that. It just took me by surprise, that's all. Don't call the hospital."
Suzuka paused whatever she was doing, looking skeptically at Nanoha, and Arisa shook her head. "Not hurt? You can't even stand!"
"- 's because - show you -"
Nanoha feebly pushed away from Arisa, who could feel her temper building. Really, this is what they were doing now? That girl could be really… exasperating, at times, and although she was kind of standing on her own now, Arisa still had to help her stay upright. Sometimes she wished she could have a friend - just one would do - who wasn't completely bonkers.
"So should I call anyone, or -" Suzuka timidly asked, and Arisa sighed. Right, no calling Suzuka bonkers, especially not when she was acting normal.
"Don't bother." Nanoha shook her head, then immediately winced and leaned a little more on Arisa again. "I know what's wrong, and I've already been to the hospital. It isn't anything they can help with, really. Well, not for me - there's someone else hurt, I heard them -"
Arisa stared incredulously at her. There definitely hadn't been anything to hear, she would have noticed. Nanoha must have realised that, though, because she went on to defend herself.
"It's like the way I always know where my sister is. I'm sure you noticed…"
She supposed she had, but - "I always thought that was because you're twins, sort of. You know, like in books." Though she hadn't honestly given it very much thought.
"Twins are supposed to be the same age, Arisa. Or at least related." Suzuka sounded amused, and Arisa flushed. S-so what? Those two got along so well, they might as well be twins!
"It's not like that," Nanoha said. "I promise I'll explain later, but -" She continued in a somewhat weaker, anxious tone. "Someone's hurt, and close by. We need to find them. Arisa, please."
That tone, that expression. Arisa frowned, realising she didn't really have a choice in the matter. If she didn't go along, Nanoha would badger her until she did - and Suzuka would help her.
With a sigh, she gave in.
"All right, I'll go search. Suzuka, stay here - don't let Nanoha go anywhere. What direction?"
———————
Into the depths of the forest. Of course. She thanked her lucky stars their school had dropped the uniform requirement a few years ago, because if she'd been walking around in a skirt she'd already be horribly scratched up. She couldn't even see more than a few meters ahead. This was almost like a jungle, which she'd be a lot more appreciative of if she wasn't trying to find someone. How was she supposed to do that in here?Really, the more she thought about it the less sensible Nanoha's claim became. Sure she'd seen her family do some weird martial arts tricks, but how did that translate to hearing people when no-one else could? And instead, she was dodging oak trees and -
Arisa clamped her hand around a vine in order to pull herself over a particularly evil-looking bush, then felt a sharp pain in her thumb. She instinctively drew back, only to see an upwelling of blood from where a thorn had punched right through her skin.
She could feel her lower lip quivering.
…Enough!
"Hey, is anyone here?" She shouted, hoping someone would answer and she could get out of here already. Come to think of it, she should have been doing that all along - she hadn't thought of it -
A bush somewhat further ahead shook, the movement catching her eye. She blinked, and started - carefully - moving forwards again, wondering if that might be the person Nanoha had talked about. If so, why they weren't responding? Were they hurt, like Nanoha had been? That'd explain it.
Once she'd crossed half the distance, she tried again. "Are you there?"
The bush shook somewhat more forcefully, and she thought she could see a pair of eyes inside.
Wait -
"Get back! Run!" Someone screamed from behind her. She twisted on the spot, almost catching her foot on an errant branch, then - incredulously - spotted a boy her age who had somehow materialised a few meters back. He was wearing odd clothes, but at a glance he looked pretty thoroughly scraped up. Was this the person Nanoha had -
She could see his face light up in fear, and heard a kind of gurgling growl from behind her. The bush - those eyes - too big -
She ran without looking back, heart hammering in her chest, and when she passed the boy she grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her. Shortly afterwards he was the one pulling her, taking paths she wouldn't even have considered that were somehow faster than the way she'd come. All the while something was following behind them, some monster, she had to get away right away, please -
She realised she was leading it towards Nanoha and Suzuka only a few seconds before they burst out onto the path where she'd left them.
———————
After Arisa had left, Suzuka gently coaxed Nanoha to sit down and relax. She didn't quite believe her claims of being fine, even if she'd refrained from calling for help for the moment.The silence stretched. Suzuka fiddled with her fingers. Normally Nanoha would be the one to talk, taking the lead if Arisa wasn't around, but she wasn't saying anything - actually, she'd leaned back against a tree and was seemingly resting, eyes closed. Suzuka had a lot of questions, though.
Time passed, until finally she couldn't hear Arisa forcing her way through the undergrowth anymore.
At least Nanoha didn't seem to be in pain anymore. Her face was smooth; Suzuka felt sure she'd otherwise be able to tell. She sat down next to her and tried to get comfortable while she waited for something to happen.
Nothing did.
Well…
"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked.
Nanoha nodded, shallowly.
Well, then. It was a nice day, the sun was shining brightly between the leaves, there was just a hint of breeze, and she might as well make herself comfortable while they waited. She shifted slightly, snuggling up to Nanoha - if nothing else, it'd reassure her that she wasn't going anywhere - then leaned backwards and closed her eyes against the sun.
Shortly afterwards she felt Nanoha's head on her shoulder, and allowed her own to rest against her friend's. The situation was odd, but this was still - nice, even if they were completely missing out on cram school. The heat was enough for her to quickly drop off into sleep.
———————
"Get back! Run!"Spotlight - she was shifting side to side - they had to find it! The treasure had fallen overboard, they had to find - no, Arisa, don't aim that at me, too bright -
She was surrounded by a dizzying smell of flowers, pink cherry blossoms flying everywhere, like in a storm. She felt happy - sated - warm and comfortable. Wait, someone was shouting - what was that?
"Suzuka! Get up, we have to run!"
Was that Arisa? She sounded frightened.
Suzuka forced herself awake, feeling completely groggy. What -
She blinked sleepily. That was Arisa, yes. What was she saying?
"Suzuka!"
Arisa burst out of the forest with a scattering of leaves. Next to her was a boy she didn't know - a hurt boy, which matched Nanoha's claim - and behind them was -
Two meters tall, to all appearances a ball of darkness with a single pair of red, staring eyes floating in the middle, but it didn't roll like a ball should - there was something she couldn't see, something almost but not quite visible, something like tentacles it used to pull itself forwards.
The monster snapped into focus, and Suzuka stared; she could do little else. Not just darkness; darkness with tentacles, which were lit from the inside by strands of blue light filtering out from a central core that was almost too bright to look at. Paradoxically it still absorbed the light around it, casting a shadow even deeper than its own bizarrely bright-yet-shadowed form.
Arisa took one good look at the two of them, then tore herself loose and came to a stop between them and the monster. The boy staggered another few meters before coming to a halt, ending up behind them.
"Oh, no," she heard him saying. "No, no, no -"
She tuned him out, instead focusing on pulling herself and Nanoha to their feet. To her vast relief Nanoha had no trouble standing this time, but she still looked groggy.
The monster came to a halt a few meters from Arisa, then hissed. Not like a cat; like an angry locomotive. Something about it called to her - it looked pretty, where it wasn't a horrible ugly shadow monster - but it was still, overall, a horrible ugly shadow monster, and she wanted to wake up now. Please?
The boy dug a jewel of some sort out of his pockets, then flinched, leaning against a convenient tree and carefully putting all his weight on only a single foot. Nanoha looked at what was happening, then paled. Arisa took up some sort of martial arts stance that looked like a parody of Nanoha's…
"Run, already!" She shouted, sounding panicked. "I'll try to keep it here, so - you two run -" Arisa's voice was breaking, by the end. She probably had a very good idea of what that would do.
Suzuka shook off the last of the cobwebs. This - this wasn't a dream, was it? This was real, monster and all.
A second passed while her thoughts twirled. She didn't know what to do, but there was one thing she was sure of: Like hell she'd leave Arisa here on her own.
Suzuka:
[ ] Grab the boy, ask him for help
[ ] Run straight in, grab Arisa, run
[ ] Run straight in, punch the horrid thing in its face
[ ] Write-in
A/N: And a shift from 2nd to 3rd person, because 3rd person is just plain better. I'll rewrite 1.1 later. I'm going to be experimental in a different way, instead: You don't get a single character to control, it'll depend on the exact situation.
staplesdex2
CLASSFIED
[X] Run straight in, punch the horrid thing in its face
She is part-Vampire in this, right?
She is part-Vampire in this, right?
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
There will be no blood-drinkers in my fic.staplesdex2 said:
staplesdex2
CLASSFIED
I'd rather not deviate from Nanoha getting Raising Heart. That and with something that is making her feel ill combined with RH would be interesting.
Asking the boy for help doesn't necessarily mean Nanoha not getting RH. All Yuuno has to do is ask who heard his cry for help and hand it over to her, or something.staplesdex2 said:
I still want Suzuka to run up and do something to it. The reversal from her usual timid character is delicious.
Uh, what? Volleyball game. Super-Suzuka. If Nanoha's crazy manga shit is intact, hers should be too.veekie said:
Also this
sounds like vampire talk to me. Sated is not a word we use in that situation.
...Good point.pressea said:
[X] Run straight in, punch the horrid thing in its face
STRONK.
al103
Grumpy Russian Bear (SV edition)
- Location
- Russia, Krasnoyarsk
Can you give specific place where it was told?veekie said:
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Ve haff reserfs[/german]dragongod123 said:
Lexica
Persevere
- Pronouns
- She/Her
She'll be fine. If it attacks, it'll have to go through both Suzuka and Arisa which should soften the blow somewhat!dragongod123 said:
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
That's situational. Yuuno knows how to run through dense undergrowth; Arisa does not.pressea said:
You mean Yuuno doesn't stay in permaferret mode when dealing with dense undergrowth? SHOCK.Baughn said:
That would still give him more experience than Arisa's zero, so point taken.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
The Mega Neko doesn't come until later, though.Roion said:
