Friends are great, right?

[nightskymaster]

WHO: Hayate, Archer (Signum), Nanoha and Saber (Fate)
WHERE: Sawa
WHAT: Hayate makes some friends! Except they end up being a part of the Holy Grail War.
WARNINGS: Staring contests. More moe than you can shake a stick at.

While Hayate could have just as easily asked someone to go into town to pick up the things that she needed for that night's dinner--a nice, hearty stew. Still, the young girl insisted upon getting the ingredients, as she was the best judge on what she needed.

"You don't need to come with me. It's pretty cold today." Hayate said, looking up toward Archer. Still, in a way she was grateful. Her companion had been quite busy over the last few weeks, searching high and low for the other Master and Servant that had appeared. The fact that she had not found anything was reassuring to Hayate. That meant that there would be no fighting.

Comments

[nightskysword]

"It's no problem whatsoever, Hayate," Archer says with a small smile. While she is frustrated at her inability to pin down this feeling of another Servant nearby, she knows better than to look a break in the mouth. Besides, the best place for her to be was at her Master's side. Whether it's for Hayate's protection, Archer's own satisfaction, or simply getting ingredients off of high shelves.

"I certainly appreciate the warm clothes, though. I wasn't exactly provided with a full wardrobe..."

[ihu2carl]

Another girl around Hayate's age walked into the store with her shopping basket, happily looking at the list in her hand.

"In places like this, you should always start at the produce before all the good ones are gone, Saber-chan," Nanoha smiled, concentrating on the list. "At least that's what Mom says."

[gotbefriended]

Trailing behind the brunette was another girl who seemed to be their age, a light smile crossing her face as she kept an eye out for the things Nanoha was looking for.

"Mm, I know what you mean. I always had to get up incredibly early, no matter what town I was visiting. I--"

Then it hit her. All at once, Saber froze, the smile vanishing from her face; it was like an electric shock had shot straight down her spine, and her red eyes quickly darted around in an attempt to scan the already sizable crowds.

Another Servant... were they tracking them? Or was this just a coincidence?

[nightskymaster]

"You don't need to thank me, Archer." She said simply. "It's the least that I can do, after all!"

Entering into the shop, Hayate thought out loud, counting with her fingers. "So we'll need an onion, potatoes, carrots, milk, meat, what else?" Looking up and seeing a few other girls her age, she seemed a bit surprised. She hadn't expected that. She gave them a warm smile and a bit of a wave.

[nightskysword]

Archer, meanwhile, is frozen in the doorway for a good two seconds. All at once, like a flash, the feeling of another connection to the Holy Grail, another Servant, overwhelms her magical senses. She places her hands on the back of Hayate's wheelchair to steady herself and then, forcing down the sharp panic of nearly tripping over an enemy like this, she begins pushing Hayate forward, as if that's what she'd meant to do in the first place.

One step and one breath later, she's calmed herself enough to start looking as nonchalantly as knightly possible around the crowd for where the danger is going to come from, half-listening to Hayate and moving vaguely in the direction of some vegetables, paying just enough attention to what she's doing not to ram into anyone.

This store is too crowded for a fight - no one would risk it. Or would they? An unscrupulous anti-Heroic Spirit might ignore the civilians and ambush them, or perhaps they are merely being spied on...damn but it's hard to get a sense of someone's presence in a crowd like this. No one whose eyes she meets gives Archer the feeling that she's found the source of this pressure...

[ihu2carl]

"Eh? Saber-chan?" Nanoha tilted her head. She noticed another girl waving at her and waved back. "Oh! Hello! Come on, Saber-chan, let's talk to them!" She tugged on Saber's sleeve and started walking over.

[gotbefriended]

Saber let herself be dragged, but didn't look too happy about it. The presence was almost stifling now. The enemy Servant was close, but who...

"Nanoha, be careful." She said, low enough so that her words hopefully wouldn't be overheard, but high enough to be heard over the din of the crowds. "Something's wrong."

She didn't want to frighten her Master with the news. But until she could pinpoint their enemy's location, there was no point in both of them getting into a panic in the middle of a public area. It would draw several kinds of unwanted attention, after all.

Say it with me everyone; "GDIT HAYATE."

[nightskymaster]

In the time that the two spent together, Hayate had grown used to reading Archer's behavior quite well. It was very rare for her to falter even slightly, so when she lost balance just a bit, the girl was immediately concerned.

She did not get the time to ask what was wrong before she saw the girls from the entrance walking up. Shaking off the look of concern, she at least gave them a bright enough smile. It was true that she was concerned for her companion, but drawing attention to that in public, given who they were, would not have been the wisest. "Are you getting something for dinner as well?"

[nightskysword]

Archer finally looks to where her Master is waving, and...there. That was...

...two little girls? She dismisses the surprise quickly. Hayate is proof enough that Masters can be very young, and there is of course the Berserker she knows so well. Even if there wasn't precedence, the pressure is undoubtedly coming from one of those two girls Hayate's age.

Archer stops pushing Hayate forward, shifting her weight subtly. Fighting here would be a disaster, but she prepares her mind anyway. Hayate's safety is her one and only absolute priority, and she prepares for several contingencies to get her out of here and out of the potential line of fire.

[ihu2carl]

Nanoha gave a concerned look to Saber before smiling at Hayate. "Uh-huh! My mom and dad gave me a grocery list, so we're doing the errands. It's a bit of a break from studying." Well, not really. Nanoha was still going over the material in some part of her head. "Are you here with your..." She thought for a moment, trying to think of what Archer would be to Hayate. "Is she your sister, or...?"

Between 'maid' and 'sister', it was probably less offensive to go with the latter if you weren't sure.

[gotbefriended]

Saber smiled lightly and nodded in greeting at the two, but on the inside, her senses was screaming. Everything about the pink-haired woman radiated power, and it didn't take that strange connection to the Grail to tell Saber that this was the enemy Servant.

... She wasn't going to do anything, though. Take a step closer to her Master, just in case, but that's all. She wasn't going to be the one to start this fight.