trans_9 | Revelations [Closed]

Roxie comes—a little early, in fact, though by her expression and body language she's distracted, lost deep in thought on some project or another. She seems to take notice of Sheik almost as an afterthought instead of him being the entire purpose she's here at all.

Well, at least one is there - giving Roxie a rather grateful look, he nods in acknowledgment. "Now we just need Nanoha," he murmurs when he draws near.

Nanoha, as it happens, is actually in her office - and pokes her head outside as she hears Sheik speak. "Oh, you were here? You should have knocked!"

Oh, she was... fighting back faint embarrassment, he settles for giving her a weak smile. "Nanoha, thank you for meeting me like this."

He gives Roxie a glance back as he steps towards the door. "Coming?"

((OOC: Should we do this in any particular tagging order?))

Roxie follows, glancing once between Nanoha and Roxie before settling her gaze off into the middle distance. Whether she's focused on something else or simply doesn't feel like making eye contact is necessary at the moment isn't entirely clear.

She moves back into her office, the door open for the other two, and leans up against the desk casually, trying to make Sheik feel more at ease - though she notes Roxie's distant expression.

"So... you wanted to talk, Sheik?"

(R:N:S/Z works for me~)

"I did, yes," he says, resisting the urge to fidget with the edge of his tabard like a child. "It's regarding the upcoming... confrontation with the Nightmare King. When I spoke to the Seer, certain issues came up, and that could lead to certain other issues, and..."

And he's procrastinating. With a faint sigh, he finally says, "It may be easier if I show you instead - and you may want to shield your eyes."

Roxie's eyes narrow, but she doesn't bother covering them. Both hands, actually, are settled into pockets of her jacket. She looks around the room, finding a chair to settle into, her knees pressed together stiffly.

She shuts her eyes nodding. "All right, I'm ready."

Sheik takes a breath and closes his eyes, too - already, the triangle mark on the back of his hand is glowing, the one on the bottom left brighter than the other two. And then it flares up brightly enough for the light to overwhelm the room.

When it fades, Sheik is gone, and instead, there's a rather nervous-looking teenage girl standing where he used to be.

Offering them a faint smile, she murmurs, "Hello, Roxie - and good to meet you, Nanoha. My name is Zelda."

And then, well, she finds a chair for herself. This explanation might take a while.

Roxie offers Zelda a small nod, though she's blinking sharply against the sudden light as her eyes try to adjust and then readjust.

((Feel free to skip Roxie for a bit, she'll be quietly sitting and watching unless anything's actively asked of her.))

Nanoha... blinks for a moment, not sure of what to make of it. Oh, transformation magic isn't anything new to her, but she's never seen a male turn into a girl (well, other than that one time with the twins, but that was just an illusion spell).

"Er... hello, Zelda. So then... was Sheik an illusion spell?"

It always comes to that, doesn't it? Still, she was expecting it, as was Sheik, so it's easy enough to explain. "Of a sort. The form you see as Sheik - that is still my body, it merely happens to resemble Sheik's. But Sheik himself is real enough - I suppose the best way to explain the relationship is as a symbiotic one. He has protected me for seven long years throughout the current occupation of Hyrule."

She takes a breath, folding her hands in her lap and dearly wishing for skirts to bunch up in her hands.

"The reason I have needed protection for the past seven years," she continues quietly, "Is the reason I have come to you today."

So Sheik was a real person, they just seemed to share one body? Nanoha is rather curious about what had happened to the man's actual body, but that can wait until later. She nods - really, she's taking the whole thing rather well.

"All right. Please, go ahead. I'm all ears."

So then it's time to reveal something she has kept secret for seven long years. Closing her eyes and letting out a soft sigh, she begins: "In Hyrule, there is a relic called the Triforce, one of immense power. My pursuer posses a third of it, the Triforce of Power. A Hero of our land, one I dearly hope is here as well, posses the Triforce of Courage. And I... possess the Triforce of Wisdom."

...There. It's out now. So she continues. "Each piece of the Triforce allows the wielder to control some of the powers of the goddesses that created Hyrule - in my case the Triforce of Wisdom boosts my natural precognition, allows me influence over light magic and water magic... it gives me a certain... influence over events. When the three pieces of the Triforce are united, it grants the wielder... anything they desire, which is why I have kept it secret for so long."

But Triforce 101 isn't why she came to them. No, instead, she has a very specific goal in mind. "I have met with the Seer, and I promised him to lend my power, but..." She glances away. "The two of you are both skilled in magic. I was hoping you might be able to find a way to block the Nightmare King from gaining the Triforce - even if it means blocking myself off from it for a time, as well."

She smiles uneasily. "I would also prefer for this to be something that can be activated at any time - blocking myself off from the Triforce means losing the ability for Sheik and I to switch control, and... well, it would be a good idea if I stayed as hidden as possible - in case the one who has been pursuing me for seven years is to wake up at some point as well."

Wow. This was a lot to take in, but Nanoha did her best, nodding again. "I see. Well, I can see why that'd be um, worrisome." She paused for a moment, in thought, considering the best way to do it. "Is the Triforce a physical object? Can it be stored somewhere? One of the new mages, Rhiow, said that she can create a little impenetrable magical space of holding for anyone who doesn't want something precious falling into the Nightmare King's hands. We could use that, if it can be physically concealed."

"Not quite," she said with a shake of her head, then held out her right hand. "Watch."

It only took a little focus to channel a fraction of the Triforce's power - she could feel magic like warm water bubbling up beneath her skin, making the triangles on her hand glow like a beacon. "It exists within me," she continued quietly, "And the only ones able to extract it would be another Triforce bearer. But this Nightmare King - he is an unknown quantity. The Triforce bearers, in Hyrule, are the most powerful magic-users there, but... I fear this dark god would vastly outpower any of us."

And, for a moment, she looks across at Roxie. "What I need," she stated carefully, "Is a way to compartmentalise my own magic, to somehow block access to the Triforce off."

Nanoha frowns. "All right. I don't know any way to do that myself... Roxie? Or maybe one of the more powerful psychics could seal its knowledge temporarily away?"

Roxie starts to speak—though she doesn't actually look at either Zelda or Nanoha, simply staring off into the middle distance between them. "Simply removing the knowledge of how to properly invoke it could end up not at all helpful, if the power is still there." A moment's pause. "Some manner of psychosurgical alteration may be able to alter the conditions of the link between this power source and you." For a moment, her gaze focuses on Zelda's hand. "It would be impossible to be sure without further, closer examination."

"Psychosurgical alteration?" Zelda pronounces carefully, a faint frown on her face. "What would it involve? And... it would be reversible, correct?"

She cannot, in good conscience, condemn Sheik to a half-life lingering in her head like... well, like a ghost.

"It would be an in-depth procedure." Her eyes close, but twitch a little under the eyelids. "Very in-depth. To reduce any chance of injury, it would be best to perform the diagnostic processes and the alteration itself as a single operation." She's speaking as though one would when referring to medical procedure. "There are a number of methods that could be effective. The one that comes most readily to mind, though it may not be applicable, would be to insert an artificial channelable stress fault into the connection structure. Forcibly triggering it later would shatter the connection, which would likely be internally damaging, but would require another procedure to repair the link and remove the spiritual scar tissue that would result."

And that would be another downside - losing the Triforce would mean losing the ability to understand things like what Roxie just described.

"You would add something in that would channel away my ability to use it, and if I force it, the connection is broken altogether," she summarises carefully, "And this can later be repaired? My only concern is that this... internal damage may affect use of my own magic, which, well, is rather the point. I want access to the Triforce blocked so that its magic does not... contaminate my own when I help the Seer."

[You actually understood that?]

[Of course. ...That may be another thing I lose, then.]

Roxie nods slightly, opening her eyes again.

Zelda may rather suddenly realize, with the Wisdom that is a part of her, that Roxie has probably never actually done before any of what she's now talking about.

"To perform the operation more cleanly would require the entire thing to be done well in advance."

"But do we have the time?" Nanoha chimed in, in thought. "The way the Seer spoke, he said it was already beginning to happen."

"Then that means that Sheik and I would not be able to switch places after it's done?" she clarifies. "Wait a moment -"

If her expression slips for a moment, it would be because of the rather fierce internal battle going on - after a minute or two, Zelda sighs, shoulders slumping a little.

"Indeed, as Nanoha asked - how much time do we have left? How far in advance do you intend for this to occur? And," she adds with sudden suspicion, "Have you done this before?"

"I can't be sure how much time we have. My intuition and what I have been able to interpret of the visions my deity has given me suggest that it may be on the order of something of a month, but that is far from an assured number." For just a moment, she looks at Zelda's face, and then away again. "I have not, though I contain within me the memories of many of my past order who have. The operation itself would likely take several days to heal from."

She couldn't tell Zelda (or Sheik, for that matter) whether or not she should get the procedure taken care of - that was for them to decide. But the rest, that was something she did feel qualified to discuss.

"Given that people are already having nightmares I think we should assume that a month is the absolute most amount of time we have. We should proceed on everything as quickly as we can without rushing things or being careless."

Zelda nods again, more slowly this time. Sheik is reluctant, extremely so, but he also knows that the Nightmare King getting the Triforce would be an unacceptable scenario - as would causing Zelda more pain than was strictly necessary.

"Alright," she says more slowly, "If we have a month at the most, then... if we do this in two weeks, would that be sufficient time for me to heal and for you to prepare? Especially if, well, you have not done this before."

It means exposure, it means risk - especially if Ganondorf awakens when they are helpless - but that is a price she must accept.

Glancing between the two uncertainly, she adds, "And would either of you know how to contact the Seer? I would like to get a firmer idea of what my part of the deal requires."

"It could, though that may be cutting it close." Roxie adjusts her glasses a little. "I should be able to prepare a channeling of one of my predecessors to better handle the procedure itself. I do not foresee any serious issues." In part because she doesn't know enough to be entirely sure of what issues to foresee. She glances at Nanoha, and then back at Zelda. "I can attempt to contact him, though I am not sure how likely he would be to respond. As it stands, your specialties would seem most applicable to defend against infiltration or overpowering force by the being's influence."

She takes a steadying breath, then nods. "Ten days, then," she says quietly. "I will try to contact the Seer at some point, also - and there are two others who know of my presence here. It would be good to work something out with them."

Assuming Marco doesn't hit Sheik the moment he sees him, that is.

"Please do as much preparation for this as possible," she tells Roxie, still softly, but firmly as well. "This has the potential to be life-threatening if it goes wrong."

"All right," Nanoha nods. "Let me know if there's anything I can do, both of you - maybe one of the psychics might be able to make the procedure go more smoothly?"

"Thank you, both of you," Zelda says with a faint smile. "Nanoha, would you recommend any of the psychics in particular?"

She pauses for a moment. "I think Jean Grey is supposed to be the most experienced on the ship - as far as I know, anyway. She might be your best bet."

"I don't know how much that would help," Roxie says, and she's unsure but her tone is rather defensive about it. "The psychosurgical procedures passed down within my order use elements of both the physical and the metaphysical. While some degree of mental attunement is required, none of the methods can be purely accomplished that way."

Zelda nods, frowning a little at Roxie's comment. "But additional... reinforcements couldn't hurt, could it?" she muses, "Especially if you've, well, never done this before."

"It would be bearable, but I don't know how much it would help," she repeats.

Stubborn little girl, she is.

Making a non-committal noise, Zelda finally sighs. "Perhaps you can contact her, see if she would be able to help?" she finally suggests tentatively. "There are lives at stake here - not just mine and Sheik's, but everyone's, if it goes wrong."

"Sure," Nanoha nods. "There's no harm in trying, right? If she can help, great - if not, then it's no worse for asking."

Zelda nods, and finally straightens up. "I appreciate whatever help you can give me, both of you," she says quietly. "Roxie, please keep us informed on how your research is going, please?"

Ten days. Just ten days, and... she hopes Roxie knows what she's doing.

Roxie nods slightly, and then straightens up to her feet, as if to go.

Revelations [Closed]

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