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Another "Whoah" Idea...
Another "Whoah" Idea...
#1
Sat through a marathon run of Nanoha 'A's  and the scenes with Fate in the dream world that the Book of Darkness conjured for her just tug on the heartstrings, you know...  And then I started thinking to myself, what would a believabe method of restoring Fate's sister to life involve... in the DSKS universe, that is...



Precia entered the study to find Zeke, studying some randome tome while facing the great bay windows... and then stopped.  She suddenly felt like an animal that had just caught wind of a predator.  For certain, she had fought against Zeke and knew that the self-made technomage was, by no means whatsoever, a pushover.  However, when she laid eyes on his back, she could not shake the feeling that she was a fly entering the spider's parlor.
But, she also knew that Zeke would never do anything to her without provocation - especially after that Senshi girl had hit her with that mind-healing attack.
Fighting off her nervousness, she cleared her throat and said, "I was told that you wish to meet me, Mr. Darkwood."
Snapping the tome shut, Zeke turned and said, "Oh, not Zeke per say.  As the line goes, misqouted to fit, 'There is no Zeke, there is only Raven.'"
Precia's breath stopped and she thinks her heart did as well for a few beats.  Zeke's Avatar-Brand had grown, extending to his jawline and trailing to lethal looking points at either side of his chin.  His eyes were the blackness of night and his traveler's cape held a nearly mind-breaking kaleidoscope of stars in its lining.
Precia struggled to find her voice.  "You...  You are the one... he said he serves?"
"In the flesh," said Raven with a wolfish grin.  "Or at least his flesh.  The whole avatar deal, you know."
"Then you must have a reason for being here right now," she murmered, barley able to get the words out in a coherent stream.
Raven simply grinned and said, "One of the things I like about you, Precia, is that no one can ever really accuse you of being stupid.  A bit overly ambitious, but definitely not stupid.  You, Lady Testarossa, have a great deal of passion.  Passion that has driven you to do some rather questionable things... however, no matter the circumstances, I appreciate passion.  Ezekiel has that in spades, I'm sure you've noticed."
Precia only nodded in reply.
Raven went on, "As such, I am willing to make an offer to you.  One which I am fairly certain that you will accept.  Are you prepared to hear it?"
Precia's curiousity began to overide the ingrained fear that all mortal beings have of true diety.  "I... must admit that I am curious, Lord Raven."
Raven chuckled softly.  "Good girl.  As the Master over Life and Death, I stand in a unique position to offer you the resurection of your Daughter, Alicia."
To say that Precia was flabberghasted was an understatement.  She had to find a chair before she passed out and hit her head on something.  With some diligent breath control, though, she got ahold of herself once more, then looked Raven in his bottomless eyes and said, "What would I have to do in return?"
Raven's grin returned in full force.  "Well, that part is a little problematic.  Certain balances must be maintained, you see.  If it was simply a matter of restoring the girl from a state of near-death or a deathly-like state, then I would simply settle for taking your life."
Precia's brow furrowed.  "Forgive me, Lord Raven, but I am afraid that I do not understand."
Raven's grin softened into the sort of smile that a teacher gives a diligent student.  "Of course.  Though with your mastery of interdimensional travel, I am a bit surprised that you haven't come to understand the subtle nuances of life and death yet.  No matter.  You see, Miss Testarossa, your daughter is thoroughly dead.  Her soul has been in the next life for quite some time now and I must have someone else's death in return for hers.
"It is possible for me to do this because it is my Crows that ferry the souls of the departed to the next life.  However, as the old legend states, if the was a wrong so grievous that it upsets The Balance, sometimes they will bring the wronged soul back at my request to set things right.  However, this only a temporary affair.  As soon as matters are righted again, my Crows bring the wayward soul back.  That, or they remain there on permanent assignment, working for me as it were with my Crows acting as guides and messengers.
"But you want me," said Precia.
Raven only nodded as though to say, 'But of course!'
"But why me?  Who would take care of my daughters?  Both Fate and Alicia... I can't leave them here alone.  And I must attone for what I have done to Fate!"
"Silly woman.  Your love for your daughters is admirable, but reconciling with Fate... I am afraid that you have wounded that girl far too deeply for her to ever love you as a mother again.  There is more than psychological scarring, but spiritual scarring as well.  It is so terrible that even Ezekiel, for all his talents with mortal hearts, would be unable to repair.  I am sorry, Miss Testarossa, but she is lost to you."
It was almost more than Precia could stand and the tears came freely, but silently.  Not a sniffle or a sob was uttered.
Raven went on, unhindered, "As for why you... who else would give their death willingly?"
Precia's tear-filled eyes widened in confusion.  "Wha... What?"
Raven smiled indulgently and chuckled like a man that loved his job.  "There are two kinds of death, Precia.  The most common kind is the Unwilling Death.  Even deaths that seem to be willing sacrifices... are not.  A true, Willing Death is one that is completely and utterly dedicated not to some ideal of self-martyrdom.  You do not care about being remembered, so long as your death means that someone you care about lives on.  That kind of death is the sweetest of them all.  Finally, and most importantly, when you dedicate that death in MY name... then I own you completely.  You do not move on into the next life unless I choose to release you.  You are to remain at my side in whatever service I deem fit.  I trust that you understand me now, Miss Testarossa?"
It was all so clear now that her fear was gone, yet the sorrow of what she faced remained.  "Yes, Lord Raven.  I understand completely."
Raven nodded.  "Very good then.  So, have you come to a decision, or should I come back later?"
"No, I have already decided.  I just need a bit of time to put everything together."
"But of course, Miss Testarossa.  I can allow you that time, even if I must take your life as well as your death.  But do be prompt, if you will."



In the end of that chapter, Fate wakes to the smiling face of Alicia, who greets her as the sister she has always wanted, and she carries a note from Precia stating that she has left what remains of her estate to her daughters and that she wants Lindsy Harloan to take care of them both.
And Fate's life is just a bit sweeter for it all - something that Zeke feels was worth all the trouble and near-death experiences on his part to make possible.
Willing and Unwilling Deaths idea is from, in part, The Blood Jaguar by Michael H. Payne and Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane.  Trust me, you're just gonna have to read these books to see what I mean - I'm not gonna spoil the surprise any more than I have.
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#2
Nice. I'd love to see this incorporated in to DSKS if at all possible...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#3
BA, have you been watching the Nanoha movie? This sounds like you know about one of the extra scenes in it.

Major Spoiler for Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha:
As Precia falls into the void with Alicia's body, still muttering imprecations against Fate's very existence, she experiences one last memory of her time with Alicia. A picnic... one of their last times together.

"Alicia, what kind of present would you like for your birthday?"

"Mother... can I have a sister?"

End Spoiler.

It seems to me that Precia is acting on that in your snippet...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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#4
*BLINKS* Dayyyyuummm...
Rob, apparently I picked up waaayyyy to clearly on Alicia in what little time I had to get to know her from A's, because I never saw the movie.
*Sighs* I'd better start putting together a room for Alicia in my head. She'll get along very nicely with another character stuck up in there named Amelia Zot.  (Her story's another one that just tugs at the heart strings.) 
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#5
It likely depends on exactly where this is in the timeline, and how your story diverges from canon, but if its close to canon at all, I think I have to disagree with you about the whole Fate being lost to Precia bit. At the end of the first season, Fate still saw Precia as her mother, even after everything Precia had said and done. I'm having trouble seeing how you can set up a situation where Precia is still alive, and Fate doesn't love her.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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#6
Well, like I said, it just suddenly popped out at me.
Bonus drama-tension if Precia does face the choice: leave Fate and resurect her sister, or stay and be a mother to Fate without her other daughter getting a chance to have a full life.
I could see Raven using it as an object lesson to Zeke as well: you can't always have your cake and eat it, too.
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#7
I occasionally get little scenes playing through my head, usually out of the blue.  This morning, I got thinking about this blurb, and envisioned Zeke and Rei getting the same telepathic call that Nanoha picks up on, and are therefore on-site when the Jewel Seed monster attacks.  They buy some time and wound it, but not enough to shut it down for good.
Cue complete shock as Nanoha activates Raising Heart (a Pillar of Light tends to do that), and further as how easily she curb-stomps the monster.
Thing is, I aside from that little scene, I have no idea how else it would fir together.  Just thought it was a neat (if not useful) idea.
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#8
paladindythe Wrote:I occasionally get little scenes playing through my head, usually out of the blue.  This morning, I got thinking about this blurb, and envisioned Zeke and Rei getting the same telepathic call that Nanoha picks up on, and are therefore on-site when the Jewel Seed monster attacks.  They buy some time and wound it, but not enough to shut it down for good.
Cue complete shock as Nanoha activates Raising Heart (a Pillar of Light tends to do that), and further as how easily she curb-stomps the monster.
Thing is, I aside from that little scene, I have no idea how else it would fir together.  Just thought it was a neat (if not useful) idea.
This is actually how I pretty much imagined their first/second meeting.  Gonna have to rewatch 1st season to get it all properly hashed out, but by that time Lum should also be a regular, as well as Cpt. Testarossa.  Thus leading to the inevitable cofusion when Fate enters the picture. Wink
  
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#9
blackaeronaut Wrote:This is actually how I pretty much imagined their first/second meeting.  Gonna have to rewatch 1st season to get it all properly hashed out, but by that time Lum should also be a regular, as well as Cpt. Testarossa.  Thus leading to the inevitable cofusion when Fate enters the picture. Wink
  
Huh.  I'm beginning to wonder how the villians will even present a challenge.  And I'm guessing that Nanoha's family will be brought into the picture, as soon as our Heroes figure out who they are.  (I'm sure Mithril wouldn't mind having the Takamachi family as allies.)
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#10
For all we know, the Takamachi Family is already on the payroll! (~_^) (Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants for TSAB?)
The villains are going to be a challenge in that they tend to come all at once, as you will soon see in Chapter 5. Worse will be when they actually start to conspire with each other. Can you imagine the likes of Guaron cutting some sort of deal with Pharaoh 90?
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#11
Gauron, not really. For some reason, he doesn't strike me as the kind of person that would work for an eldritch horror, or nearly anyone for that matter. From what I recall even the people at Amalgam didn't really like him.

On the other hand, Jail Scaglietti and Amalgam, well, imagine what a magically enhanced lambda driver could do. Jail worked with Precia on Project Fate during the interim between her banishment and her disappearance, so he was active long before season 3.

Also, consider the parallels between Professor Tomoe and Precia Testerossa. I can't recall if it was fanon or canon, but I remember from somewhere that Dr. Tomoe was working on some sort of interdimensional tech that allowed Pharaoh 90 access to Earth, killed his wife and nearly killed Hotaru. Precia was working on a new type of interdimensional motor when something happened, causing a mid size dimensional fault, which eventually resulted in her banishment. The accident was what killed Alicia. In canon, Precia claimed that the accident was simply an accident, and was not caused by her using illegal materials as the TSAB/whoever had decided. What if Precia's 'accident' was caused by Pharaoh 90 trying to break through, and Precia just had better(read: more than zero) wards than Tomoe, but something still got through, and eventually caused her madness.

Also, depending on when you introduce the Nanoha characters, you could have a lot of fun. Picture a 6-way race for the Jewel Seeds, between
1)Nanoha (and the Senshi, if for no other reason than that they would likely want to help a fellow magical girl), who starts collecting them to help Yuuno,
2)Fate and Precia, for canon reasons,
3)The Death Busters, because these things are almost as good as/as good as/better than pure hearts as power sources,
4)Amalgam, who want to study and use them,
5)Mithril, who want to keep them out of the wrong hands, and
6)The TSAB, who enter the game halfway through, and have no idea what is going on.

Also, imagine an Arm Slave, with a magically enhanced Lambda Driver, getting hit with a Daimon Seed.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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#12
Quote:I can't recall if it was fanon or canon, but I remember from somewhere that Dr. Tomoe was working on some sort of interdimensional tech
That's canon.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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#13
Where are the earlier chapters of DSKS archived? Wink
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
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#14
The earlier versions are lying around on my hard drive, along with most of the commentary on the board, just so I have them around to peak at now and then. Smile
But lucky for you guys,
A) I tag all the DSKS related threads, and
B) The search function is working again. (^_^)
Here's the original thread that started it all.
And here's the original first snippets.
As you can tell, it has evolved quite a bit from the begining.  (^_^Wink
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#15
robkelk Wrote:
Quote:I can't recall if it was fanon or canon, but I remember from somewhere that Dr. Tomoe was working on some sort of interdimensional tech
That's canon.
Square peg, meet square hole.
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