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[diabolic_ace]

Aimlessly wandering around the city again (it was so big), Hayate had managed to stumble upon the Statuary. She walked up and down the hall, marveling at the various works of stone and metal. At first she had tried to flick some of the switches, but after three or four flips on a few didn't result in a thing, she didn't bother with they any

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[herblessedwind]

Having just re-found Hayate Reinforce had adopted a mildly clingy attitude towards her, and her stop at the statuary inevitably brought Rein out to see what her wielder was up to.

Hayate was, she found, seated on top of a stone lion, but Rein's enthusiasm for just about everything about the girl - no, woman now - could be a bit blinding at times and she entertained for now the thought that there might be some clever purpose to it beyond play.

"Hayate," she called warmly as she approached the base of the statue, "What are you doing?"

[diabolic_ace]

"Oh, Reinforce!" She waves from up top the lion. I was just wanderin' around, trying t'get the lay of the land, and, well~" It is as Reinforce sees now.

[herblessedwind]

"You climbed up there to see?" Reinforce looked a bit concerned, and floated closer. "Would it not be easier to fly?"

Misunderstanding: total.

[diabolic_ace]

"What? Oh, no... I jus' thought there wouldn't be any harm in havin' some fun."

Hayate patted the lion's back. "You probably wouldn't get it, but there's some novelty to it."

[herblessedwind]

Oh. Rein nodded, chastened. She'd never known Hayate to enjoy climbing on things, but then she had known her when her legs were only just finishing healing and hadn't built up much strength yet. When she thought about it that way, it was sort of inspiring that she'd taken up things like this instead of just flying everywhere...

"I'm sure there's no harm in it," Reinforce agreed. "Ah..." she managed a slightly more dignified version of the more common 'um', "Do you like it because it's a lion, or...?"

She might say they bore part of each others' souls, but Reinforce really had no idea what Hayate was getting out of this, exactly.

[diabolic_ace]

In truth, actually, in a way... she just missed riding on things. But she couldn't go around having wheel chair races, now could she? She was mature than that. Though being carried in Signum or Shamal's arms was a very, very fond memory for her.

"Well, it's big and majestic and fierce, and it kind of reminds me of Zafira, or Signum." Not Vita, though. Vita was less majest, and less big. She'd be something more adorable yet fierce. Maybe like a a really vicious puppy.

[herblessedwind]

Rein drifted in and sat on the lion behind Hayate, side-saddle. "I could certainly see the General as a lion, with that pride of hers," Rein smiled. Zafira was always going to be a wolf to her, with a nature that matched his form.

[diabolic_ace]

Of course Zafira was a wolf. Hey, maybe there was a wolf statue to climb around here...

"What kinda statue do y'think I am, Rein?"

[herblessedwind]

Rein though for a moment.

"I do not think you are suited to being a statue. Their nobility and strength are austere. Yours come from your liveliness. If you were, though, it should stand in public and be a fixture for all the people. I don't think standing watch in some museum like this is your place."

"As to the subject... if it were not yourself, perhaps a trickster like Coyote. Or a raccoon."

[diabolic_ace]

"Aww, that's kinda sweet of ya to say. Liveliness." She laughed warmly. "Maybe I'd be one o'those animatronic things."

"But this is all rather silly, isn't it?"

[herblessedwind]

"Sweet...?" Reinforce reddened ever-so-slightly, and was suddenly glad she was sitting behind Hayate. It was not a compliment she thought she'd ever received before, one alien to her own understanding of herself, but she was somehow very happy to have received it.

"It's not." Well, maybe it was; she wasn't much of a judge of such things as silliness. "Or... I enjoy it, at least." She nodded.

[diabolic_ace]

"Mmm," She nodded, leaning back against Reinforce. "Good."

"Hey, how were you here before I woke up anyway, Rein?"

[herblessedwind]

Rein smiled faintly. 'Good' was the word. She felt... content, here, by Hayate's side again.

"I did not know what to do at first. Being completely removed from where I was... reminded me of reincarnation. I did not want to trust the ship's motives in wielding my power, but I was so far from anything I knew I could not prove to myself that I should or shouldn't. In the end I decided simply to trust Nanoha's instinct and follow her."

A pause. "After that it was... better. I was able to meet my sister and speak with her about you, and it put me more at ease while I waited. Still, it was... hard, sometimes." To think that, having saved Hayate from herself, she might have lost the girl to an even darker fate.

[diabolic_ace]

"Do you trust the ship now? At this point, you'd know better than me..." So far, Hayate really didn't know what to think.

[herblessedwind]

"The Ohm are certainly real and dangerous. To cooperate with and help the others, to resist them, does not feel wrong to me. But..." She frowned. "I am still wary of being used. I am sorry, but I have little real wisdom to offer you here, meister."

[diabolic_ace]

"You don't need to apologize. I'm jus' tryin' to wrap my head around this, y'know?"