OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
Well, the thing is. When every anime girl ever has sparkles and you see the one that doesn't, what one is the most moe?
The one that doesn't have sparkles.
Pathfinding for Beginners (Pathfinder/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Mizu
- Start date
Well, the thing is. When every anime girl ever has sparkles and you see the one that doesn't, what one is the most moe?
The one that doesn't have sparkles.
Yup, that's totally moe.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Well, the thing is. When every anime girl ever has sparkles and you see the one that doesn't, what one is the most moe?
The one that doesn't have sparkles.
...why is this the thing you pick up on, and not Suzuka thinking of Nanoha as 'delicious' or something.
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
Because Suzuka is a magical vampire. Thinking people are delicious is what vampires do, even with lewd undertones so it's not surprising.
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
That'll be him yes. Shiro Takamachi, the Emiya Shirou of Body Gaurd Ninjas.
People use that nickname other then me?
You taught. The vampire. To be a Ninja.
Wait is she a still a vampire in this continuity?
BULLSHIT.
More you used it and I've both read this and watched the Mabinogi let's play he tried. Birdbrain really feels like it fits. *Shrug*
It's possible you were the cause of both the hug-sluts and birdbrain thing sticking actually. They just feel like they fit so well. Andit's not meant it bad jest either, so I hope it's fine.
What ORG said. That's about expected honestly.
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
I know. And that's what's funny about it.Oh you don't even have to deal with him half the time...
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
What aspect of the memory problems do you find aggravating? I can't change it too much, due to it being part of the plot, but rewording is a possibility depending on the problem you have with it.
As Baughn said, read and find out. She's obviously in the same vein as Hayate as far as 'not quite human' goes, that's for sure.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
You're talking about post-As Hayate, right?
Nah, I don't think you should change it. I just have little fondness for the trope in general. I don't like the uncertainty/ambiguity and the identity issues that come with losing memories from the perspective of the viewpoint character.
I'll note that I really do like the way you handle the (presumably) implanted memories with italics, its a good way to indicate that she's accessing something else.
The part that I don't like is the confusion popping up about what set of memories is real, but I can tell that it's a plot point, presumably with its own arc progression, so I'll bear with it until it's resolved (hopefully in Mizuki's favor, rather than the nameless thirteen year old girl).
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
I feel like I have to correct you on something, at least.
The thirteen-year-old-girl has a name. It's "Mizuki", and yes, she'll answer to that; it feels quite natural to her. I mean, it's what's on her character sheet. Mizu also has a name, though it isn't "Mizu". She'd answer to his too, I'm sure, but no-one has offered.
Mizu picked the "Mizuki" name when designing a Pathfinder character. So far, so good; but whatever is going on here, Mizu's name hasn't changed. There's more going on than just designing an SI, too — I mean, think about it; doing so doesn't usually end with you actually inserted into the story. That's a mystery that will need to be resolved.
The memory confusion is largely my fault, as the original plan was slightly different, but all I can say is... hopefully you'll remain entertained. I'm definitely not going to be answering any questions about that. If you're really curious, you can start analysing the text; we've put enough hints in there for an informed opinion, I think.
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Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Uh, right, should've clarified. Pre-A's Hayate's a normal girl bonded to the Book of Darkness, post-A's she technically is the book - it's why she got the nickname 'Living Lost Logia'. Think that was due to something Reinforce did to her before sacrificing herself, or a side-effect of being the last Master of the book and almost dying to mana drain, but I'm not 100% certain on the origins.
The nameless thing is my fault, I suppose. I usually skip over the character sheet in quests to get straight to the story or avoid spoilers.
As for designing an SI, well, you're right that it usually doesn't end with you inserted into the story. On the other hand, when reading an SI story, it's usually the opposite. It's nice that there's going to be a bit of ongoing mystery to it since many SIs simply accept it as an act of ROB, it adds some depth.
I'm pretty positive on my outlook and expectations for the story, I'd just feel bad if I replied to a story thread with a one line compliment or "watched," so I give a small bit of critique, too.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
And we definitely appreciate it. Just don't join the "Mizuki Moeblob Society", and all will be good.
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*Looks at list in hands* ... Hey Teucrian, wanna sign on this inconspicuous dotted line?And we definitely appreciate it. Just don't join the "Mizuki Moeblob Society", and all will be good.
~suspicious~
Chapter 7
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Chapter 7
"—and then I got my dad's permission, and we were brought aboard your spaceship."
Fate escaped despite Chrono's best efforts, the bridge team unable to keep a lock on her as she jumped rapidly between dimensions, but I was a bit too shocked to really pay attention. Now, though, I've had a little time to get over that this is actually happening. I'm actually here, and that's actually Nanoha sitting across from me and Lindy in the meeting room.
Nanoha smiles awkwardly as she finishes recounting what happened before we arrived. She's clad in a t-shirt and shorts, not the school uniform I might have expected, and if I hadn't been told it was her, I wouldn't have guessed it. Sitting next to her is Yuuno, human-shaped and dressed almost identically. They look like a pair of kids on an outing, but… this is Nanoha. Sitting next to me, on the opposite side from Lindy, is Suzuka and her mother, Suzuka sitting on her lap.
I don't think I'd have noticed otherwise, but she looks a lot more asian than Nanoha does.
What Nanoha just finished explaining was a single day of what happened, but it's obvious that the changes run much further back than that, seeing as Suzuka and her folks are here too, right alongside Nanoha's mum and dad. They've been sitting quietly for the most part, intimidatingly so in the case of Shiro—he's so big!—but the sheer element of their presence is enough to let me know whatever rails canon once followed, we're sure not on them anymore. Probably didn't have 'em in the first place.
Suzuka's been acting fidgety throughout the retelling, hands clenched tight, and visibly shrinks in her mother's lap at the curious looks I'm tossing her way. The girl should be nothing but a normal human, a muggle kid acting as a friend and anchor to Nanoha during her magical girl adventures, and yet she's currently got a Jewel Seed stuck in her palm granting her strength and speed enough to take on transformed crocodile monsters. I wanna know how that happened. I really wanna know. I wanna know how it works, too.
I'm trying not to stare at her, but it's hard. And… is that a glare, Mrs. Tsukimura? Are you glaring at me? I quickly look away. She looks far too soft and weak to be properly scary, like a—noble, their family was rich, right—but I feel a little guilty anyway. It's her daughter I was staring at.
But I wanna know.
"What happened to Suzuka?" I ask, once the conversation dies down for a minute. "How'd she end up strong enough to fight alongside you, Nanoha? I don't remember that being the case at all—she should be a normal human, see, so…"
Nanoha, I know. I remember a lot about her from the show. She's responsible, iron-willed and incredibly clever, not to mention stupidly powerful, idealistic and cheerful enough to befriend someone who's trying to kill her, and completely independent, which I guess she's showing by not sitting on someone's lap like her friend. I smile at her, fully expecting her to tell me.
Instead she shrinks in on herself, wilting under my gaze just like Suzuka did, and squeaks something I can't make out. Her mother reaches over to squeeze her shoulders.
"What do you mean, 'I remember'?" Mrs. Tsukimura snaps at me, scowling and hugging her daughter tightly to her chest. "Who are you anyway, to talk to her like that? Constantly looking at Suzuka, poring over her with your eyes like you're trying to see what makes her tick. Can't you see she's tired of having people stare at her?"
Suzuka is tearing up, more so the harder she's being hugged, and I feel a pang of confusion until I can make the connection. She's acting just like a normal girl would have, a few years— a bit under half my age, I suppose, correcting myself. Which is… normal. That is… I may have expected her to act like a cartoon character. Um. In which case...
I lower my head as my cheeks start burning, muttering "Sorry." Was I being a bully? I didn't mean to, I swear!
"Mizuki's someone we picked up on our way here," Lindy smoothly interrupts the woman's tirade, throwing me an annoyed glance at the same time. "She's had visions of the future, relating to the trials your daughter and Nanoha have undergone among other things, which is how we were so prepared when we interfered with their fight with Fate Testarossa. Her curiosity stems from differences between her visions and reality, which is also why she's here at this moment."
Ms. Tsukimura blinks, looking thrown for a moment, before she regains equilibrium with a huff and a glare towards me. "Even if that's true, there's such a thing as common courtesy, girl. Did it never occur to you to phrase yourself better? Youth is no excuse for bad manners!"
This time it's my turn to shrink into myself, guilt sloshing in my stomach. She's right, I could've phrased that better, but I didn't mean anything bad by it! I just—
"You knew about me?" Nanoha interrupts my thoughts, staring directly at me with wide eyes. "About Yuuno? About the Jewel Seeds being scattered? About Fate?"
With each nod I give in reply she grows more upset, tears beading in her eyes. "About Suzuka?"
I open my mouth, but before I can say a word of denial she's leaping to her feet and spinning to face Lindy. "If you knew, why now? Why did you show up now? Where were you when Yuuno crashed on Earth, and was forced to ask me for help? When Suzuka got the seed stuck in her palm? Where were you when she had to fight Fate for her life, and had her arm cut off in the battle! Where were you?! She could have died!"
Nanoha screams the last, and she isn't the only person who looks upset in this room. Lindy is taking it with little beyond mild annoyance and concern, but Shiro looks angry himself, Momoko looks like she can't decide if she should grab her daughter or not, and the Tsukimura parents have both gone pale. So has Suzuka.
"And I couldn't stop, I couldn't even tell her to stay away! We would have lost, and, and…" Nanoha glances at Yuuno, her face a woebegone mask of pain. Her voice chokes as she continues. "He told us we might all die if we didn't fight. Was he telling the truth?"
She's outright sobbing now, shoulders shaking in a mix of rage and grief, and all I can do is stare at her in shock. 'This isn't Nanoha'... would be a stupid thing to say. She's supposed to be brave and unflappable, but do I really want to accuse a nine-year-old of being out of character?
I decide that no, I don't, and when Momoko catches her and drags her onto her lap, I tear up a little in sympathy. Being afraid for your life… I know how that feels. Nanoha's wails continue for a little while, eventually dwindling into softer sobs while Momoko strokes her hair. The scene feels familiar, but I'm not sure from where—I feel a little envious. And intensely ashamed for having triggered all of this.
Two for two. Guess I really am a bully.
Lindy sighs, glancing at Yuuno, before putting an apologetic look on her face as she tries answering Nanoha. "He wasn't lying. Lost Logia aren't, by definition, dangerous—they're technological or magical devices built by prior civilizations, such as Al-Hazard or Old Belka, which we don't fully understand yet—but the ones Yuuno recovered from his dig site were all still functional. Most such things are broken, worn down by time and the environment, or trinkets that aren't a danger to begin with.
"The Jewel Seeds were fully active from the start, deliberately preserved to minimize the damage, and part of an extremely dangerous group of Logia. That particular kind of Lost Logia seems to grant wishes, but never reliably, or safely. Either because of damage to their safeties, or because of inexact wishes— or because the user has a dangerous wish from the start. We've found a few other caches, but normally they're sealed—that is, turned off. These ones were fully active, just waiting for someone to come along and use them again."
Lindy sighs more deeply, while I try to process the implications. I remembered them being power sources, but it sounds more like they're artifacts capable of casting Wish, repeatedly, which if true is… mind-boggling is the right term, and extremely scary. I can definitely see why people would covet them. While I'm wondering what she means by 'safeties', Lindy keeps talking.
"And I do mean 'someone'," she stresses. "As in they aren't limited to mages, archaeologists skilled in old languages, or even humans. They have an incredibly robust and user-friendly interface, usable without training simply by wanting something while holding it. There are some safeties even there, but we've seen cases where even small animals can trigger one.
Oh, like Suzuka's cat. Huh, I wonder if that's what happened.
"From what I've heard Yuuno did, both immediately after the crash and in the months since then, I have to admit he did the best he could in the circumstances considering his age and limited experience in such matters." She smiles at him. "While it would have been ideal if he'd gotten in touch with local TSAB personnel, without knowing that it was an option, and injured from trying to seal a seed himself, I can see why he recruited the first compatible person he found. You've all done very well for yourself, especially given your age."
Nanoha's sobs died off a while ago, and she's gone quiet, but she doesn't seem happy about the praise. Yuuno, by contrast, preens.
"Then… then why did you take so long to come here?" she asks.
"That's a more complicated story. I'll admit, we weren't moving as fast as we could initially, and I'm deeply sorry for that. However—" she speaks up, in response to half the people in the room suddenly trying to talk at once. "Please let me finish. We're part of a scout force, originally sent to patrol this section of Unadministrated Space and investigate any odd events. We did not receive any distress calls; to be frank, even if Yuuno did try, it is unlikely that we could hear a single mage's telepathy unless we were literally passing by the planet at the time. The reason we were headed this way is a series of weak disturbances in Dimensional Space which we've been tracking for weeks, in retrospect most likely caused by the Seeds.
"That was up until a week ago, when our sensor officer detected a strange signal on a class-D planet and asked to investigate. Our ship was in teleporter range, so I didn't see the harm, and it's good that she did. That's when she found young Mizuki, here—" she nods towards myself. "—who was, at the time, fighting for her life against a different type of Logia. It was touch and go for a while, but as soon as she woke up and informed us of the situation we made full speed towards Earth, pushing our ship to the limits exactly to prevent the situation you were afraid of." She leans down to look Nanoha in the eyes, her voice apologetic. "We came as fast as we could, and we were almost too late. I'm sorry."
It takes Nanoha a while to accept that, but she eventually gives a stiff nod.
Now that Nanoha's questions were answered, people had time to focus on the other revelation she'd let slip during her meltdown at Lindy. One which the Tsukimura family were keen to take advantage of, judging by Mrs. Tsukimura's iron grip on her daughter's arms as she worriedly examines her.
"Nanoha said you lost an arm? An arm?!" She starts patting down the girl, despite Suzuka's squirming resistance, poking and prodding as if that'll reveal which limb happened to detach for a while. "Which arm was it? How long? Why didn't you tell us, young lady?"
"Mum, stop—" Suzuka struggles to get a word in. She shoots a betrayed look at Nanoha, failing to hide it from her parents, which only ends up worsening the situation as the red-eyed young girl gets drawn into the telling-off as well. I feel my lips quirk in a smile, seeing how much their parents care for them both, but feel puzzled by their reaction in the same moment.
Nanoha's breakdown is completely understandable, being a young girl who underwent a deeply stressful series of events. It's easy enough to see why she reacted as she did—I'd be angry too if someone just told me a seer predicted horrible events in my life, but didn't send people to help till after a certain amount of them happened—but it's also weird. They're acting like dangerous situations aren't part and parcel of daily life. Like it's rare for people to get injured, or they've never seen death before a few months ago. They're… too emotional.
I mean, I'm from Earth too, and I'm sure I wouldn't react like that. Nanoha's story was dramatic—she's definitely had a hard time, and I feel like an ass now for asking like that—but none of them are actually hurt.
My eyes droop, and I yawn, already exhausted after only a few hours awake. Maybe this will all make more sense when I'm less tired. No-one is paying attention to me; I have half a mind to slink off and fall asleep on a couch.
I catch only snippets of the conversations around me. Shiro, having a quiet talk with Nanoha and Lindy. Momoko reading some kind of pamphlet.
"—No, but it grew back!" Suzuka says. "And this is exactly why I didn't tell you. Don't you dare blame Nanoha—"
Suzuka fighting with her parents.
I sink down on the table, head in my arms and leaning a bit towards Suzuka. Hey, don't blame me; she looks comfy. Angry, but kind of a little-sister type. She's cute, and I like her spark. I wonder if she'd mind if I lean on her.
Probably. I did bully her.
Somewhere in the process I wind up right next to her, her jacket right in front of my face. It catches my eye, although calling the disastrously damaged strips of cloth and sandblasted fabric a 'jacket' might be stretching the term, so I reach out to touch it.
Soft! The embroidery is extremely fine, barely visible to the eye, and I roll it about in my palm as I think. Mending could fix this easily enough, and it'd act as a good apology for putting my foot in my mouth regarding her situation, but… I can't recall how to cast it. A yawn hits, my jaw almost cracking as I cover my mouth. So I'd need to see about checking my book, see how it's performed, preferably when I'm not falling asleep as I—
The jacket's glowing. A white light shines from my palm, from the small chunk of jacket held between my fingers, spreading slowly free from my hand to trace across the rest of the segment of jacket. And then the gap between it and the next part. And the next. Like water flowing down an empty riverbed, white light flows across Suzuka's chest, tracing a path around her arms and waist before lapping softly at her neck; a few moments later, it fades away entirely, leaving a completed jacket in its wake.
That didn't feel like normal magic.
"Wha—" Discussion grinds to a halt in an instant, and everyone looks at Suzuka. Who's looking at me, looking silly with my head nestled on the table. I'm hit by another wave of exhaustion; if I wasn't already half-asleep…
"What'd you do?!"
"Mended your jacket?" My tone is questioning, unsure even myself, but the result speaks for itself. How'd I cast without remembering how to cast? My eyes shut, before blinking back open, and a jaw-cracking yawn emerges from me before I continue. "As an apology. I know I stuffed up earlier, the way I asked that question, so I wanted to do something nice to apologize."
The girl blinks, still shocked, and feels the jacket between her fingers. "It's like new…" She shakes her head, looking back up, and smiles at me. An actual smile, instead of the nervous shrinking and scared looks I'd got ever since we met, only worsened by my blunder. "Thanks!"
Lindy's staring at me. At what I did—does TSAB not have a similar spell? They've proven themselves better in everything else so far, after all. With a small shake of the head, she regains her wits, turning to face Shiro and Suzuka's parents again and continuing their conversation. I'm temporarily awake again.
"Ms. Tsukimura, please. Understand where I'm coming from here. I know you've just learned your daughter suffered grievous wounds, alongside hiding them from you, and thus feel more protective of her than normal. I know we're complete strangers to you, showing up out of nowhere and tossing terms around you've never heard of before. But surely, surely a single night wouldn't hurt? A single night aboard, so we can make sure there aren't any problems after the fusion—and, possibly, find a way to reverse it—so that later on Suzuka doesn't activate the Seed like all the others she's fought, causing a horrible disaster and risking the life of everyone around her?"
"That's what the scientists said!" She spits, her voice a low hiss. I blink, wondering what I missed. "That it won't be long, that it's for the safety of herself and others around her. Well, I'm not having it! The media's hounded us ever since this happened, alongside the government, and I'm not about to roll over and let you do as you please just because you're some alien spacefaring civilization to blame for it all!"
Lindy winces, and looks to Mr. Tsukimura for aid. His stony expression, hand intertwined with his wife's in a reassuring grip, shows she won't find it.
"Unlike them, we actually know what we're dealing with here. We have the resources to—"
"Resources?" Ms. Tsukimura snorts. "You're a scout ship, you said it yourself. The best you've got is some sort of simple medical bay, I'm betting, and I refuse to believe you can somehow divine what's going on with Suzuka with it. Her gem, her 'Logia', it's as unknown to you as it is us!"
Lindy sighs, rubbing her forehead, and looks like she'd much rather be dealing with something else right now. Or someone, like the Takamachi family watching the argument from the sidelines.
"Airi, don't you think you're being a bit hasty?"
"You stay out of this, Shiro!" She snaps, almost biting the boulder of a man's tongue off with her voice. "The worst you've had to deal with is media attention. This is my daughter we're talking about here, being taken away by strangers, and—"
"We do have the facilities, and expertise. Once more, it'll only be a single night—"
And I'm tuning them out again, dragging myself to the couch so I won't fall asleep on a table, because that doesn't sound fun. Stupid parents. Stupid adults. Stop fighting while I'm trying to sleep.
When I get there I find that Nanoha's already resting on it, leaning into her mum as the argument continues and barely keeping her eyes open. That outburst must have taken a lot out of her, but I bet the fighting beforehand probably has something to do with it too. Lindy's words and reassurances wash over me, fading in and out of hearing, and as a yawn threatens to break my mouth in twain I realize I'm struggling not to join her in slumberland. Oh, screw it. Hi, Nanoha, hope you don't mind if I fall on you…
Gotta find a way to get healed quickly. I'm useless if I can barely stay awake half a day, and with all the dangerous Lost Logia on the loose I can't afford to spend six months resting in bed. I can't afford six days. A spell drifts in and out of mind as sleep creeps up on me, fluttering barely out of reach as I try to marshal my thoughts enough to catch it.
Something important. Used in battlefield healing, to get warriors up and fighting when you can't afford the time to heal them normally, but which also has a horrible reputation for how it goes about doing so. What was it, what was it…
It might be minutes later, or seconds, when Suzuka slumps onto my other side and we all pool into a kind of puddle. Yeah, she's soft… and I'm glad she's light, my side couldn't have taken it otherwise. I'm glad she's here, I feel far more comfortable sleeping like this.
Ah, False Life! That was it! Gotta… see about checking… if I have it in my…
"—and then I got my dad's permission, and we were brought aboard your spaceship."
Fate escaped despite Chrono's best efforts, the bridge team unable to keep a lock on her as she jumped rapidly between dimensions, but I was a bit too shocked to really pay attention. Now, though, I've had a little time to get over that this is actually happening. I'm actually here, and that's actually Nanoha sitting across from me and Lindy in the meeting room.
Nanoha smiles awkwardly as she finishes recounting what happened before we arrived. She's clad in a t-shirt and shorts, not the school uniform I might have expected, and if I hadn't been told it was her, I wouldn't have guessed it. Sitting next to her is Yuuno, human-shaped and dressed almost identically. They look like a pair of kids on an outing, but… this is Nanoha. Sitting next to me, on the opposite side from Lindy, is Suzuka and her mother, Suzuka sitting on her lap.
I don't think I'd have noticed otherwise, but she looks a lot more asian than Nanoha does.
What Nanoha just finished explaining was a single day of what happened, but it's obvious that the changes run much further back than that, seeing as Suzuka and her folks are here too, right alongside Nanoha's mum and dad. They've been sitting quietly for the most part, intimidatingly so in the case of Shiro—he's so big!—but the sheer element of their presence is enough to let me know whatever rails canon once followed, we're sure not on them anymore. Probably didn't have 'em in the first place.
Suzuka's been acting fidgety throughout the retelling, hands clenched tight, and visibly shrinks in her mother's lap at the curious looks I'm tossing her way. The girl should be nothing but a normal human, a muggle kid acting as a friend and anchor to Nanoha during her magical girl adventures, and yet she's currently got a Jewel Seed stuck in her palm granting her strength and speed enough to take on transformed crocodile monsters. I wanna know how that happened. I really wanna know. I wanna know how it works, too.
I'm trying not to stare at her, but it's hard. And… is that a glare, Mrs. Tsukimura? Are you glaring at me? I quickly look away. She looks far too soft and weak to be properly scary, like a—noble, their family was rich, right—but I feel a little guilty anyway. It's her daughter I was staring at.
But I wanna know.
"What happened to Suzuka?" I ask, once the conversation dies down for a minute. "How'd she end up strong enough to fight alongside you, Nanoha? I don't remember that being the case at all—she should be a normal human, see, so…"
Nanoha, I know. I remember a lot about her from the show. She's responsible, iron-willed and incredibly clever, not to mention stupidly powerful, idealistic and cheerful enough to befriend someone who's trying to kill her, and completely independent, which I guess she's showing by not sitting on someone's lap like her friend. I smile at her, fully expecting her to tell me.
Instead she shrinks in on herself, wilting under my gaze just like Suzuka did, and squeaks something I can't make out. Her mother reaches over to squeeze her shoulders.
"What do you mean, 'I remember'?" Mrs. Tsukimura snaps at me, scowling and hugging her daughter tightly to her chest. "Who are you anyway, to talk to her like that? Constantly looking at Suzuka, poring over her with your eyes like you're trying to see what makes her tick. Can't you see she's tired of having people stare at her?"
Suzuka is tearing up, more so the harder she's being hugged, and I feel a pang of confusion until I can make the connection. She's acting just like a normal girl would have, a few years— a bit under half my age, I suppose, correcting myself. Which is… normal. That is… I may have expected her to act like a cartoon character. Um. In which case...
I lower my head as my cheeks start burning, muttering "Sorry." Was I being a bully? I didn't mean to, I swear!
"Mizuki's someone we picked up on our way here," Lindy smoothly interrupts the woman's tirade, throwing me an annoyed glance at the same time. "She's had visions of the future, relating to the trials your daughter and Nanoha have undergone among other things, which is how we were so prepared when we interfered with their fight with Fate Testarossa. Her curiosity stems from differences between her visions and reality, which is also why she's here at this moment."
Ms. Tsukimura blinks, looking thrown for a moment, before she regains equilibrium with a huff and a glare towards me. "Even if that's true, there's such a thing as common courtesy, girl. Did it never occur to you to phrase yourself better? Youth is no excuse for bad manners!"
This time it's my turn to shrink into myself, guilt sloshing in my stomach. She's right, I could've phrased that better, but I didn't mean anything bad by it! I just—
"You knew about me?" Nanoha interrupts my thoughts, staring directly at me with wide eyes. "About Yuuno? About the Jewel Seeds being scattered? About Fate?"
With each nod I give in reply she grows more upset, tears beading in her eyes. "About Suzuka?"
I open my mouth, but before I can say a word of denial she's leaping to her feet and spinning to face Lindy. "If you knew, why now? Why did you show up now? Where were you when Yuuno crashed on Earth, and was forced to ask me for help? When Suzuka got the seed stuck in her palm? Where were you when she had to fight Fate for her life, and had her arm cut off in the battle! Where were you?! She could have died!"
Nanoha screams the last, and she isn't the only person who looks upset in this room. Lindy is taking it with little beyond mild annoyance and concern, but Shiro looks angry himself, Momoko looks like she can't decide if she should grab her daughter or not, and the Tsukimura parents have both gone pale. So has Suzuka.
"And I couldn't stop, I couldn't even tell her to stay away! We would have lost, and, and…" Nanoha glances at Yuuno, her face a woebegone mask of pain. Her voice chokes as she continues. "He told us we might all die if we didn't fight. Was he telling the truth?"
She's outright sobbing now, shoulders shaking in a mix of rage and grief, and all I can do is stare at her in shock. 'This isn't Nanoha'... would be a stupid thing to say. She's supposed to be brave and unflappable, but do I really want to accuse a nine-year-old of being out of character?
I decide that no, I don't, and when Momoko catches her and drags her onto her lap, I tear up a little in sympathy. Being afraid for your life… I know how that feels. Nanoha's wails continue for a little while, eventually dwindling into softer sobs while Momoko strokes her hair. The scene feels familiar, but I'm not sure from where—I feel a little envious. And intensely ashamed for having triggered all of this.
Two for two. Guess I really am a bully.
Lindy sighs, glancing at Yuuno, before putting an apologetic look on her face as she tries answering Nanoha. "He wasn't lying. Lost Logia aren't, by definition, dangerous—they're technological or magical devices built by prior civilizations, such as Al-Hazard or Old Belka, which we don't fully understand yet—but the ones Yuuno recovered from his dig site were all still functional. Most such things are broken, worn down by time and the environment, or trinkets that aren't a danger to begin with.
"The Jewel Seeds were fully active from the start, deliberately preserved to minimize the damage, and part of an extremely dangerous group of Logia. That particular kind of Lost Logia seems to grant wishes, but never reliably, or safely. Either because of damage to their safeties, or because of inexact wishes— or because the user has a dangerous wish from the start. We've found a few other caches, but normally they're sealed—that is, turned off. These ones were fully active, just waiting for someone to come along and use them again."
Lindy sighs more deeply, while I try to process the implications. I remembered them being power sources, but it sounds more like they're artifacts capable of casting Wish, repeatedly, which if true is… mind-boggling is the right term, and extremely scary. I can definitely see why people would covet them. While I'm wondering what she means by 'safeties', Lindy keeps talking.
"And I do mean 'someone'," she stresses. "As in they aren't limited to mages, archaeologists skilled in old languages, or even humans. They have an incredibly robust and user-friendly interface, usable without training simply by wanting something while holding it. There are some safeties even there, but we've seen cases where even small animals can trigger one.
Oh, like Suzuka's cat. Huh, I wonder if that's what happened.
"From what I've heard Yuuno did, both immediately after the crash and in the months since then, I have to admit he did the best he could in the circumstances considering his age and limited experience in such matters." She smiles at him. "While it would have been ideal if he'd gotten in touch with local TSAB personnel, without knowing that it was an option, and injured from trying to seal a seed himself, I can see why he recruited the first compatible person he found. You've all done very well for yourself, especially given your age."
Nanoha's sobs died off a while ago, and she's gone quiet, but she doesn't seem happy about the praise. Yuuno, by contrast, preens.
"Then… then why did you take so long to come here?" she asks.
"That's a more complicated story. I'll admit, we weren't moving as fast as we could initially, and I'm deeply sorry for that. However—" she speaks up, in response to half the people in the room suddenly trying to talk at once. "Please let me finish. We're part of a scout force, originally sent to patrol this section of Unadministrated Space and investigate any odd events. We did not receive any distress calls; to be frank, even if Yuuno did try, it is unlikely that we could hear a single mage's telepathy unless we were literally passing by the planet at the time. The reason we were headed this way is a series of weak disturbances in Dimensional Space which we've been tracking for weeks, in retrospect most likely caused by the Seeds.
"That was up until a week ago, when our sensor officer detected a strange signal on a class-D planet and asked to investigate. Our ship was in teleporter range, so I didn't see the harm, and it's good that she did. That's when she found young Mizuki, here—" she nods towards myself. "—who was, at the time, fighting for her life against a different type of Logia. It was touch and go for a while, but as soon as she woke up and informed us of the situation we made full speed towards Earth, pushing our ship to the limits exactly to prevent the situation you were afraid of." She leans down to look Nanoha in the eyes, her voice apologetic. "We came as fast as we could, and we were almost too late. I'm sorry."
It takes Nanoha a while to accept that, but she eventually gives a stiff nod.
Now that Nanoha's questions were answered, people had time to focus on the other revelation she'd let slip during her meltdown at Lindy. One which the Tsukimura family were keen to take advantage of, judging by Mrs. Tsukimura's iron grip on her daughter's arms as she worriedly examines her.
"Nanoha said you lost an arm? An arm?!" She starts patting down the girl, despite Suzuka's squirming resistance, poking and prodding as if that'll reveal which limb happened to detach for a while. "Which arm was it? How long? Why didn't you tell us, young lady?"
"Mum, stop—" Suzuka struggles to get a word in. She shoots a betrayed look at Nanoha, failing to hide it from her parents, which only ends up worsening the situation as the red-eyed young girl gets drawn into the telling-off as well. I feel my lips quirk in a smile, seeing how much their parents care for them both, but feel puzzled by their reaction in the same moment.
Nanoha's breakdown is completely understandable, being a young girl who underwent a deeply stressful series of events. It's easy enough to see why she reacted as she did—I'd be angry too if someone just told me a seer predicted horrible events in my life, but didn't send people to help till after a certain amount of them happened—but it's also weird. They're acting like dangerous situations aren't part and parcel of daily life. Like it's rare for people to get injured, or they've never seen death before a few months ago. They're… too emotional.
I mean, I'm from Earth too, and I'm sure I wouldn't react like that. Nanoha's story was dramatic—she's definitely had a hard time, and I feel like an ass now for asking like that—but none of them are actually hurt.
My eyes droop, and I yawn, already exhausted after only a few hours awake. Maybe this will all make more sense when I'm less tired. No-one is paying attention to me; I have half a mind to slink off and fall asleep on a couch.
I catch only snippets of the conversations around me. Shiro, having a quiet talk with Nanoha and Lindy. Momoko reading some kind of pamphlet.
"—No, but it grew back!" Suzuka says. "And this is exactly why I didn't tell you. Don't you dare blame Nanoha—"
Suzuka fighting with her parents.
I sink down on the table, head in my arms and leaning a bit towards Suzuka. Hey, don't blame me; she looks comfy. Angry, but kind of a little-sister type. She's cute, and I like her spark. I wonder if she'd mind if I lean on her.
Probably. I did bully her.
Somewhere in the process I wind up right next to her, her jacket right in front of my face. It catches my eye, although calling the disastrously damaged strips of cloth and sandblasted fabric a 'jacket' might be stretching the term, so I reach out to touch it.
Soft! The embroidery is extremely fine, barely visible to the eye, and I roll it about in my palm as I think. Mending could fix this easily enough, and it'd act as a good apology for putting my foot in my mouth regarding her situation, but… I can't recall how to cast it. A yawn hits, my jaw almost cracking as I cover my mouth. So I'd need to see about checking my book, see how it's performed, preferably when I'm not falling asleep as I—
The jacket's glowing. A white light shines from my palm, from the small chunk of jacket held between my fingers, spreading slowly free from my hand to trace across the rest of the segment of jacket. And then the gap between it and the next part. And the next. Like water flowing down an empty riverbed, white light flows across Suzuka's chest, tracing a path around her arms and waist before lapping softly at her neck; a few moments later, it fades away entirely, leaving a completed jacket in its wake.
That didn't feel like normal magic.
"Wha—" Discussion grinds to a halt in an instant, and everyone looks at Suzuka. Who's looking at me, looking silly with my head nestled on the table. I'm hit by another wave of exhaustion; if I wasn't already half-asleep…
"What'd you do?!"
"Mended your jacket?" My tone is questioning, unsure even myself, but the result speaks for itself. How'd I cast without remembering how to cast? My eyes shut, before blinking back open, and a jaw-cracking yawn emerges from me before I continue. "As an apology. I know I stuffed up earlier, the way I asked that question, so I wanted to do something nice to apologize."
The girl blinks, still shocked, and feels the jacket between her fingers. "It's like new…" She shakes her head, looking back up, and smiles at me. An actual smile, instead of the nervous shrinking and scared looks I'd got ever since we met, only worsened by my blunder. "Thanks!"
Lindy's staring at me. At what I did—does TSAB not have a similar spell? They've proven themselves better in everything else so far, after all. With a small shake of the head, she regains her wits, turning to face Shiro and Suzuka's parents again and continuing their conversation. I'm temporarily awake again.
"Ms. Tsukimura, please. Understand where I'm coming from here. I know you've just learned your daughter suffered grievous wounds, alongside hiding them from you, and thus feel more protective of her than normal. I know we're complete strangers to you, showing up out of nowhere and tossing terms around you've never heard of before. But surely, surely a single night wouldn't hurt? A single night aboard, so we can make sure there aren't any problems after the fusion—and, possibly, find a way to reverse it—so that later on Suzuka doesn't activate the Seed like all the others she's fought, causing a horrible disaster and risking the life of everyone around her?"
"That's what the scientists said!" She spits, her voice a low hiss. I blink, wondering what I missed. "That it won't be long, that it's for the safety of herself and others around her. Well, I'm not having it! The media's hounded us ever since this happened, alongside the government, and I'm not about to roll over and let you do as you please just because you're some alien spacefaring civilization to blame for it all!"
Lindy winces, and looks to Mr. Tsukimura for aid. His stony expression, hand intertwined with his wife's in a reassuring grip, shows she won't find it.
"Unlike them, we actually know what we're dealing with here. We have the resources to—"
"Resources?" Ms. Tsukimura snorts. "You're a scout ship, you said it yourself. The best you've got is some sort of simple medical bay, I'm betting, and I refuse to believe you can somehow divine what's going on with Suzuka with it. Her gem, her 'Logia', it's as unknown to you as it is us!"
Lindy sighs, rubbing her forehead, and looks like she'd much rather be dealing with something else right now. Or someone, like the Takamachi family watching the argument from the sidelines.
"Airi, don't you think you're being a bit hasty?"
"You stay out of this, Shiro!" She snaps, almost biting the boulder of a man's tongue off with her voice. "The worst you've had to deal with is media attention. This is my daughter we're talking about here, being taken away by strangers, and—"
"We do have the facilities, and expertise. Once more, it'll only be a single night—"
And I'm tuning them out again, dragging myself to the couch so I won't fall asleep on a table, because that doesn't sound fun. Stupid parents. Stupid adults. Stop fighting while I'm trying to sleep.
When I get there I find that Nanoha's already resting on it, leaning into her mum as the argument continues and barely keeping her eyes open. That outburst must have taken a lot out of her, but I bet the fighting beforehand probably has something to do with it too. Lindy's words and reassurances wash over me, fading in and out of hearing, and as a yawn threatens to break my mouth in twain I realize I'm struggling not to join her in slumberland. Oh, screw it. Hi, Nanoha, hope you don't mind if I fall on you…
Gotta find a way to get healed quickly. I'm useless if I can barely stay awake half a day, and with all the dangerous Lost Logia on the loose I can't afford to spend six months resting in bed. I can't afford six days. A spell drifts in and out of mind as sleep creeps up on me, fluttering barely out of reach as I try to marshal my thoughts enough to catch it.
Something important. Used in battlefield healing, to get warriors up and fighting when you can't afford the time to heal them normally, but which also has a horrible reputation for how it goes about doing so. What was it, what was it…
It might be minutes later, or seconds, when Suzuka slumps onto my other side and we all pool into a kind of puddle. Yeah, she's soft… and I'm glad she's light, my side couldn't have taken it otherwise. I'm glad she's here, I feel far more comfortable sleeping like this.
Ah, False Life! That was it! Gotta… see about checking… if I have it in my…
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
The kids all ran away...
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
-rubs his brow-
Yeah, try to tear the interdimensional police forces head off when they say they can help you and they know what they are doing. Then yell at a child just because she was staring and make the child feel bad when she didn't do anything wrong. And brush it off when it comes to light that child is the reason why support got there so quickly after she was fighting for her life on a planet against something herself all alone.
Genius move parents.
I think I may hate them even though I understand why they are like this.
Yeah, try to tear the interdimensional police forces head off when they say they can help you and they know what they are doing. Then yell at a child just because she was staring and make the child feel bad when she didn't do anything wrong. And brush it off when it comes to light that child is the reason why support got there so quickly after she was fighting for her life on a planet against something herself all alone.
Genius move parents.
I think I may hate them even though I understand why they are like this.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
She's out of line, not to mention acting hypocritical. This is true...
But in Airi's defense, she's had a horrible couple of months. Her daughter has repeatedly risked her life in combat, Japan's media is showing their worst side and they've probably received threats from all over the world. Not to mention fan mail, some of it inevitably of dubious nature. They'll have needed police protection every bit as much as the Takamachis; more so, as they aren't a family of ninjas, and that also means it'd be harder to understand. It'll have affected their business, too.
It would have been relatively easy to show them as sympathetic, simply by showing everything they've gone through. All this, and Airi's first thought is still for Suzuka.
We didn't, in part so you would have that exact reaction... This *was* her having a breakdown, every bit as much as Nanoha. Learning that Suzuka isn't as indestructible as she claimed definitely hasn't helped.
But yeah, she's still being unreasonable. Just... Hopefully understandably so.
She isn't incorrect in claiming that Mizuki made Suzuka feel uncomfortable, mind you. Just in how she approached it.
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*Sees update* ... Okay. Who are you and what have you done with Mizuki?
I can only think of a couple of reasons Mizuki might be able to cast. She's casting as a Cleric somehow or she's been upgraded to a Sorceress due to becoming an inherently magical being (Valkyrie)?
Also, jokes on you. I enjoy have my expectations subverted. As long as it's done well/for a good IC reasoning.
Which this one was.
I can only think of a couple of reasons Mizuki might be able to cast. She's casting as a Cleric somehow or she's been upgraded to a Sorceress due to becoming an inherently magical being (Valkyrie)?
Also, jokes on you. I enjoy have my expectations subverted. As long as it's done well/for a good IC reasoning.
Which this one was.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Gee, I wonder how that could happen.
Mizuki is a wizard dropped into a world where arcane magic and science is everything. There are no gods, no spirits and no other planes of any relevance. Naturally, we'd focus on that contrast...
Once she's done geeking out about the TSAB's magitech, that is. Might be a while.