[Episode 251868] [Episode 251868]Hours later...
Teana, dressed in a white shirt and dark skirt combo, smiled lightly as she, Quint, who was dressed in blue pants and a light blue shirt, and Subaru, who was in a light skirt and blue shirt, all were meeting at a familiar park. "This is..."
"Where Subaru introduced you to me." Quint smiled at Teana. "I'm not going to press the issue, but I think after what happened today, you two could relax, and I don't know anything that helps more than ice cream."
Teana smiled softly and looked away, her face lightly flushed, "I don't deserve it, I..." She blinked as Quint squeezed her shoulder. "Quint?"
"What you do or do not deserve is not for you to decide." Quint shook her head. "Besides, Teana, regardless of anything else, I don't blame you for the failed mission."
Teana blinked and looked at her in shock. "You... You don't?"
Quint shook her head. "Stuff happens all the time. I don't believe in coincidence, so I don't think she was just there by chance. Lost Logia are, after all, very valuable items, so it wouldn't surprise me if that she might be working for someone who wanted them for themselves and found out about this one."
"What if she shows up again? Then more people will," Teana blinked as Quint put a finger to her lips, causing Teana to blush as the older woman pressed on her lips.
"Regardless, Teana, I'm sure that the truth will come out soon enough," Quint smiled and pulled her finger away from the teenager's lips and started to walk away. "I'll get some ice cream."
"I like strawberry and chocolate, mom! With sprinkles!"
Quint nodded and looked at Teana. "How about you?"
"Ah, uh... I think I'll try the triple flavor one."
"Sure." Quint walked off with a small sway in her hips.
"Ne, Tea..." Teana looked at Subaru and blushed as the girl suddenly hugged her.
"S...Subaru!" Teana's face was completely red as Subaru rubbed her cheek. "What's with you?! Stop it!"
"Sorry!" Subaru let go and stepped back. "But you looked so cute that I couldn't help it." Subaru beamed at Teana, who just groaned and buried her face into her palm.
Sometimes Teana wondered just why Subaru was so excitable all the blasted time.
It didn't take long for Quint to come back with lots of ice cream, even for Subaru's appetite, it was too much. Quint just winked at their confusion before jerking her head behind her.
"Gin-nee!" Subaru's eyes sparkled and she jumped from her seat to go and meet her big sister. "Dad! Aston, Cecilia!" The excitable teenager grabbed Ginga in a quick hug, before doing the same to her father and picking up her little brother and swinging him happily in the air.
Genya smiled as he watched Subaru play with her younger brother. "Ah, you must be Teana Lanster, Subaru keeps saying such nice things about you." He laughed when the girl blushed heavily.
"Dear, don't make me put this ice cream down and show you why I married you." Quint winked at him as she put the ice cream out for everyone.
"Mom, please," Ginga shivered at that, "there are people around, we don't need to give them nightmares." The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally walk in on her parents having sex again. Five times in the past year had been enough, thank you very much!
"Trust me, Ginga," Genya chuckled softly as Subaru took Aston over to the table, "when you find someone that drives you crazy, you'll probably be the same as your mother."
"Not likely." Ginga snorted as she sat down at the table. "Hello, Teana." She smiled at the girl across from her. "Nice outfit."
"Thanks, you too." Ginga did look nice in her short-sleeved gray shirt and dark jeans that hugged her legs and butt and really made her look like some sort of...
Ginga blinked as Teana's face suddenly went red and she shook her head. "Uh huh..." She had no idea what was going through the girl's head. It wasn't like she could read minds, even if she had telepathy, that didn't mean she could read a person's mind like some of those psychics claimed they could.
Other than getting Cecilia and Aston to try and calm down, and Subaru's near orgasm from eating ice cream, it was pretty quiet overall.
"Actually, Ginga, since you're here, I'd like to ask you something." Quint spoke up and Ginga looked at her mother in confusion. "Would you like to transfer over to the Riot Force?" Ginga blinked in confusion. "We're in need of more personnel," Quint smiled at her, "and you could use an Intelligent Device of your own."
"Really?" Ginga blinked at her mother. "I thought you weren't going to let me get one until I earned it."
"Trust me, Gin-nee, survive a week with the lunatics we have a trainers and you'll have it earned." Subaru said, causing Teana to nod emphatically.
"...They can't be that bad, can they?"
Teana shuddered, causing Ginga to blink at her. "I'm just a B rank mage and they're training us as if we were all at AA rank or higher."
Quint just laughed as Ginga sweat-dropped. "And Ginga, you're A rank, right? You might benefit from this as much as Subaru has."
"Uhh..." Ginga blinked and looked at her mother, Subaru and Teana, before shrugging. "Sure, why not?" It probably couldn't hurt at the very least.
"Not that we can do much right now anyway." Teana looked down, feeling all the joy leaving her as she remembered what had happened that day.
"You let Hayate and Reinforce worry about that." Quint spoke up, causing Teana to look at her tiredly. "No one is going to make you two miss any training, and if that dummy thinks he can just bully you and get away with it, you need to remember this," Quint grinned at her, "nearly everyone in the Riot Force is very... Protective of their friends and family, Teana." Not to mention explosive in power, but that wasn't something that Teana needed to worry about. "So, I'm certain that none of them care what happened."
"Wish I could share your enthusiasm." Teana looked down, sighing heavily. What did she do to have this happen to her? Her brother was killed, but people dismissed it as a suicide, Sein turned out to be a deserter and traitor and now she was in danger of losing everything, finding out who killed her brother and spending a lot of time in prison on top of it.
'...Why? What did I do to deserve this?' Teana could feel her eyes starting to burn and she tried to fight off the tears that were threatening to come. She didn't want to cry, not in front of everyone like this. 'Stop, dammit, stop... Stop...'
"Teana..." She felt Quint slide into the booth next to her and the next thing that she knew, Teana found herself pulled into a hug as Quint rocked her back and forth. "It's okay, Teana." She felt the girl stiffen in her arms. "Let it out, it's eating away at you." Quint just grinned as she rubbed Teana's back. "And if anyone makes fun of you, they'll find out just how hard a Nakajima looks out for their friends and family."
It didn't surprise anyone that Teana wrapped her arms around Quint and started to softly cry into the older woman's shoulder. After what had happened that day, Subaru knew better than anyone how much Teana was in need of this.
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See other episodes by Philip Weigel
(Posted Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:55)
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