Teaching Gone Wrong

[pink_dragon_spooker]

Who: Caster, Takamachi Nanoha, ???
What: An unfortuitous meeting between a master and a servant.
When: March 7th, midday.
Where: An ordinary small school in Galamond
Warnings: Possible epic explosions

Galumond Province, Sawa. Caster's been trying to get substitute teaching work here, both to fund her food habit and to see if she can get interesting rumors.

So far, the richer schools - the kind where magic is actually taught - haven't had a lot of opportunities, even with her Territory Creation power giving her a leg-up. Meaning it's time to go to the ordinary schools and hope a little bit of Caster's oh-so-legendary feminine charm will work to her advantage.

Surprisingly, it eventually worked - she managed to find a school that would let someone with no credentials (but a lot of knowledge) teach a class whose teacher had to attend to a doctor's appointment that afternoon.

It's now that afternoon... And Caster's walked into a certain someone's class.

Who knew how this day would go, now?

Comments

[ihu2carl]

Nanoha looked up from her work and blinked. A sub? It wasn't unprecedented, of course, and her classmates were already whispering, but... Something was off. Very off.

She needed to talk to Saber right away. Or at least after class. That wouldn't take too long...

[pink_dragon_spooker]

"Greetings class. I'm Miss Seyruun, and I'll be your substitute for the afternoon."

Caster's attention seemed a bit more focused on the lesson plan and trying to figure out how to improvise her way through the day than on Nanoha...

[ihu2carl]

Nanoha tugged her sleeve further over her hand. She watched Caster a little too closely, though part of her mind was elsewhere.

[pink_dragon_spooker]

"Your teacher, of course, has lightened your class load while she's out. Can't rely on my genius to teach kids, I guess." That's in... A distinctively mumbling tone.

And then? Math lessons. Pretty normal division work, typical for Nanoha's age - in a digression, Caster shows a clever trick for handling dividing by 7.

At one critical point, though... "Would anyone like to point out what other numbers this trick could easily be adapted to?"

[ihu2carl]

The teacher hadn't done anything wrong yet, and Nanoha had started to relax. Maybe she wasn't related to this at all. Or maybe she was like Hayate and Archer, who had just been out shopping when they met her and Saber. Nanoha smiled and raised her hand, the answer in mind.

"Five?"

Permission was received for this.

[pink_dragon_spooker]

And then, the teachers's attention was very tightly focused on Nanoha's hand.

And on the command seals on it.

"Wait... You've... Erm..."

[ihu2carl]

...Oh, crap.

"Ahaha..." Nanoha rubbed the back of her head. "I kind of drew on my hand at recess." Everybody else had bought this, so...

[pink_dragon_spooker]

"A.... Ah. Just a bad coincidence then. And five's actually only okay to pull that method with - mostly because there's simpler methods."

[ihu2carl]

Saber-chan!

Nanoha sweatdropped and thought quickly. "Like that its multiples are easy to spot as it is, right?" Good. Distraction. Meanwhile, she'll be mentally calling Saber to avoid dying.

[pink_dragon_spooker]

"Exactly. Same with two and four."

And now... Caster still looks worried.

Class, nonetheless, goes on.

[ihu2carl]

Nanoha covered up her hand for the rest of class. She worked hard and kept quiet, but kept watching the substitute teacher. Saber-chan! Something's wrong.

[gotbefriended]

I know, Nanoha. I can sense her. Saber had been on the move as soon as Nanoha had called to her, and was now just outside the school.

Is she doing anything suspicious?

[pink_dragon_spooker]

*Other than trying her patience working with such young kids, Caster's lessons don't seem to be sinister in any way. She seems to like trying to push the limits of what nine and ten year old children are capable of, but that's not too weird.*

[ihu2carl]

Not yet... Nanoha kept watching Caster and doing her schoolwork at the same time. It's almost the lunch bell. I don't know what she's planning.

[gotbefriended]

I'll meet you outside when the bell rings. If she wants to start something, at least we'll be able to lead her away from the school.

It would give them a disadvantage, leaving an area where a destructive mage like Caster couldn't go all out, but protecting the people inside was their top priority, so it was a risk Saber was willing to take.

[pink_dragon_spooker]

And then, finally... The bell. Most of the kids, of course, were immediately leaving for lunch...

"Takamachi Nanoha, if you could please stay behind one quick minute."

"Miss Saillune" was looking directly at Nanoha.

[ihu2carl]

Nanoha gulped. She stood up and nodded, holding on tightly so the rim of her desk as her fellow students dispersed.

[pink_dragon_spooker]

It was maybe a minute before everyone else was out, and the older woman was standing at Nanoha's desk.

"... You don't have to be worried. I will not harm you."

[ihu2carl]

Nanoha took a deep breath and looked up at her. "I don't know what you're talking about. Um, I hate to be disrespectful, but I need to meet somebody soon..."

Saber-chan, I think she noticed. I'm kind of stuck here!

[gotbefriended]

And that was all it took. In the blink of an eye, Saber was there, standing between her Master and the other Servant. Her sword was still strapped to her back, but her right hand twitched, prepared to draw it at any moment.

"What do you want with her?"

[pink_dragon_spooker]

"H-hold on. I'm only here to talk... Well, I was here to teach, and then I ran into..."

Caster pointed at Nanoha's hand. "A major coincidence."

[ihu2carl]

"Saber-chan!" Nanoha hesitated. "...Maybe we should listen to what Miss Saillune has to say." If she tries anything bad, though...

[pink_dragon_spooker]

"You say that like I could say anything."

'Miss Saillune' looked towards Nanoha. "... Heh... The one time I get my chance, and a child ends up as both as a master and a servant. Guess I'd better hope I get more lucky next time..."