(02-08-2019, 10:20 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: <blinks>  Apparently it does.  Color me surprised.

(04-05-2019, 07:02 AM)Black Aeronaut Wrote: Lastly, I’d do Group Intelect as a group of brains superimposed over a large arrow to signify a group of minds moving in one direction. Simple, yes/no?

Thoughts?

(12-01-2019, 06:53 PM)robkelk Wrote: Because of this post, I have made a full offline copy of the wiki, including images and page histories.

(12-20-2019, 08:54 PM)Black Aeronaut Wrote: Okay, just finished - if not the entire thread, then at least the important bits where SJ has finished the first season.

As I thought, nothing really earth-shattering, but a few gems did come up.  Most relevant of all is this:

(12-21-2019, 05:36 PM)robkelk Wrote: That's a better image than what we had on the wiki... so it is now on the wiki.

Now this girl needs a writeup.

Quote:"Hi!  I'm Alicia!  Let's be friends!"

Alicia is proof of just how far Benjamin is willing to go in order to tell Fate (not Testarossa) to go fuck itself.

In the original Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha continuity, Alicia died in a tragic accident that her mother was deemed responsible for.  She was never brought back to life and ultimately her body fell into Imaginary Space with Precia Testarossa, never to be seen again.

However, when Precia arrived with Alicia's capsule in the Metacontinuity, Ben and Nanoha made the snap decision to bring her back to Washu's lab in hopes that the genius can revive the girl.  In the end, it took Benjamin making a bargain with Hild herself to bring Alicia back.

For the time being, Alicia is technically a lich, similar in nature to the Puella Magi only without the chance of turning into a witch.  (In fact, Alicia's phylactery becomes the prototype upon which Soul Gem Replacements are based.)  Another defining aspect of this new twist is that she is reliant on Benjamin as a source of spiritual energy to help sustain her until her soul can do so on it's own.  Benjamin is largely unaffected by this because, as Washu puts it, his soul is "built like a tractor".  (This is evidenced by Ben's unusually hardy constitution.)

That said, though, this spiritual link between them has created an empathic bond between the two.  Benjamin and Alicia are highly perceptive of each others emotional states, even when they are separated by several miles.

It is hoped that her soul will eventually reintegrate itself into her body, but the possibility remains that she might need her phylactery for the rest of her mortal life.  Fortunately, this is a possibility that has been taken into account, and Alicia's phylactery has been made by Washu-chan herself to be virtually indestructible by conventional, and even most unconventional means.

Alicia has been dead for the past 25 years, and she knows it, too.  It's not something often discussed, but Benjamin and the others know it plays a major factor in her joie de vivre; her lust for life is matched only by the likes of everyone's favorite Tamaranian, Star Fire.

Alicia loves and adores her sister, Fate, but because of what Benjamin has done for her, she has taken him on as her own father figure (despite always referring to him as her "Big Brother").  She is also very much in favor of her "Big Sister" being married to both him and Nanoha.  However, this is not going to be without its pitfalls.

Alicia always craves being in physical contact with Benjamin.  While part of this is the conditions of her resurrection, the other part is her own personal desire to be as close to him as possible.  As she grows older and adolescence sets in, it becomes problematic as her antics stop being quite so innocent; e.g.: playbiting and declaring "Mine!" as she does so*.  Fate and Nanoha eventually have to have an intervention with Alicia and essentially tell her that she needs to sort out her feelings for Benjamin, and that she will only cause problems if she cannot figure out what she wants to be to Benjamin.

Alicia loves to tease Nanoha - in part because it makes Fate laugh (too rare of an occurrence as far as Alicia is concerned), and in part because she loves hearing Nanoha go "ALICIA!  Mou... so meeeean!"  But this teasing is mainly out of affection for Nanoha, as she was the one that saved her sister from their mother.  In fact, she won't tolerate anyone else bullying Nanoha... except for Nanoha's friends, Alisa and Suzuka - she loves Nanoha's friends as well, and gets along especially well with Alisa - to the point of these two becoming 'partners in crime' in mischievous acts at Westwoods Apartments.

* This is something known in the field of psychology as Dimorphous Expression.  Essentially, it's a regulating mechanism for highly intense emotional responses.  When you experience overwhelming emotions, there is a counter-intuitive desire to express them in a "violent" way; e.g.: pinching cheeks painfully and saying "OOO! I JUST WANNA EAT YOU UP!!!"  Doing so helps you cope with the emotion and restore balance so the come down is easier to handle.  In Alicia's case, her emotions towards Benjamin become so intense that biting him is the only way for her to cope.  Once she's gotten her fill of "Vitamin B", she calms down and acts much more normally.

Quote:"Hello.  My name is Fate Testarossa.  Please take care of me."

Fate Testarossa is, by far, one of the most traumatized of the displacees, barring Accelerator and the Misaka clones.  While many characters have had terrible things happen to them, not many were lashed by their own parent until their back was cut to bloody ribbons and told expressly what a failure they are (not true).

In the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha timeline, Fate would go on to become Nanoha's domestic partner as well as a highly recognized Enforcer in the Time-Space Administration Bureau, and help raise the clone of the last Sankt Kaiser, Vivio Takamachi.

But things have changed.  She met Benjamin and fell hopelessly in love with him.

It's not that she no longer loves Nanoha - far from it.  Benjamin simply now occupies a space in her heart that is directly adjacent to Nanoha's place.  She loves them both and wants to keep them in her life.

But what happened that caused this?

Benjamin instinctively knew that without the Harlaown family around, there would be no one to help Fate heal.  Nanoha could help, but the problem there was that she simply had no frame of reference.  It's difficult to have true empathy when you cannot imagine what the trauma felt like yourself - not that Nanoha doesn't try, though.

Benjamin, though, had a very clear idea of the emotional wounds that Fate had suffered because, like her, he was a survivor of child abuse.  He may not have suffered anywhere near the same degree of physical abuse, but the mental abuse was exactly the same.  When he opened up to Fate, it was like a godsend for the girl, because here was a person that knew what it was like.  Someone she could relate to and pour her heart out to without fear of being misunderstood.  Not that she had that fear with Nanoha - she certainly did try, but it left the poor girl feeling out of her depth.

From this point forward, Benjamin has been teaching her the most critically important tools for her recovery: it is alright to cry; it is alright to be angry; do not be afraid to share your pain.

In this way, Benjamin has become a rock for her to cling to when she is at her worst.

However, what had completely driven her to love him without reservation was the deal Benjamin made to resurrect her sister, Alicia.  It didn't help that Benjamin said that he was doing it because he loved her and wanted her to be happy.  Or that he said that he would die a thousand times over if it meant she could live a happy life with her sister.

From this point forward, Fate would not have it any other way.  She needed both Benjamin and Nanoha in her life.  And, fortunately, Nanoha wanted to oblige her in this desire.

As of late, Fate has been building up her relationship with Alicia - coming to know what a dear child she is, and treasuring her more and more every day.  It is not long before they really are sisters.

Fate still faces an arduous journey to heal her heart.  But between Nanoha, Benjamin, and Alicia, her prognosis is glowing and she is beginning to blossom into the beautiful, strong, and courageous person she is meant to become.  The only difference is that her future now includes Benjamin.

---

"Hello!  My name is Takamachi Nanoha.  I'm pleased to meet you!"

Nanoha is a strong, talented, and beautiful girl.  But that does not mean that she does not have her own foibles that she needs to overcome.

In the original Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha timeline, she goes on to become the Ace of Aces in TSAB, but then suffers a debilitating injury that permanently cripples her Linker Core.  (Note that this is a relative thing.  The difference is that had it not happened, Nanoha could very possibly have become a SSS-ranked mage without any peer at all.)  She would also become the domestic partner of Fate, and the adoptive mother of Vivio Takamachi.

However, this has all been butterflied to hell in the Metacontinuity.

Nanoha's life truly began to diverge not when her family arrived in San Antonio, but when she and Benjamin first laid eyes on each other.  It was not so much love at first sight, but it was a powerful moment nonetheless.  As Nanoha stared into his eyes, she was completely rooted to the spot as she experienced the full and undivided focus of Benjamin's intense persona.

The thing to keep in mind here is that Nanoha is a very strong personality herself.  Her 'befriendings' are evidence of this, where she literally beats it into someone's head that, goddamnit all, she CARES about them!!!  With Benjamin, however, many people that have prolonged exposure to him will often have their entire paradigm shifted.  And even the most charismatic of people will be, if not changed, then charmed by his demeanor and intense intellect.

And then he showed her his heart by playing a song of loneliness, loss, and heartbreak.  Not for a lover, but for a friend.  It nearly nearly broke Nanoha's heart to hear something like that - clearly giving her the imagery of losing someone close to her; be it Fate, Suzuka, Alisa, or even any of her family.  And not even to death, but to a falling out - a difference that was too great to resolve or ignore.

Having had a close call with Shizuka and Alisa already, it struck her squarely in the heartstrings, making them reverberate within her soul.  But most of all, Nanoha could hear it clearly in his voice; he was lonely and alone, and feared that he would be so for the rest of his life.

Suffice to say, Nanoha was all-but completely blown away by the meeting.

From here, it only went downhill as she resolved to learn more about Benjamin.  It didn't take long for her to resolve to make Benjamin a part of her life as, later that evening, he told Fate about his own circumstances and became a rock for her dearly treasured friend.

The final straw was his bid for Alicia's resurrection - that he would do something so selfless just to see Fate smile; just to give Alicia another chance.  It was in this moment that she knew without a doubt that Benjamin's heart was like her own: battered and scarred it may be, but if given half-the-chance, he would tear reality apart by the seams to help those he cared about.

He was a person that she knew she could rely and trust in.  Someone that she knew would never hurt her.  Someone that was stubborn enough to live through anything - if only so he could spit in Destiny's eye and tell them next time to try harder and wake up earlier.  Someone that Death could never unjustly take from her.

That last bit is the important part, and what ties into Nanoha's own past trauma.

Her father, Shiro Takamachi, was nearly killed in a bombing and spent a month in a coma.  Nanoha, being only five years old at the time, had nothing she could do to help anyone.  So, she remained at her father's bedside for the entire month, praying that he would come back to them.

Fortunately, he did, but at this point the damage was done: Nanoha is deathly afraid of losing anyone close to her, and will push herself to extraordinary lengths to make sure that never happens.

No matter what.

Benjamin is aware of this, fortunately, and he will be keeping a careful eye on her.  His goal is to gently dissuade her from overexerting herself by getting it into her head that she cannot help anyone if she hurts herself in the process, and thus needs to know exactly where her limits lay.  But he will not dissuade her from becoming stronger.  In fact, he wants her to become the mortal demigod that is in her potential.

He will help Nanoha walk this tightrope, and she knows it.

(12-22-2019, 02:36 PM)robkelk Wrote: Thanks.

Say... aren't those two images part of a set of three?

EDIT: Yes, it is. And here's the third.