godoka anon. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anonily) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bakerstreet2015-05-18 03:52 pm
anonily) wrote in bakerstreet2015-05-18 03:52 pm
so, i ask of thee, are you my master?
The HOLY GRAIL WAR Meme
Who will it be?
For those unfamiliar with Fate/Stay Night or Fate/Zero, you can find a better explanation of the Holy Grail War here. (Note: The Holy Grail War in Fate/EXTRA functions in a dramatically different way, and one not followed for purposes of this meme.)
Instructions
1. Comment with your character. In the subject line, put that character's name, canon, and which role (Master, Servant, or either) you would like them to fulfill. Though not mandatory, it would be preferred that you give a brief summary of your character as they will (most likely) be AU'd into the setting. (NOTE: If your character can fill the role of Servant, I suggest you state which class(es) -- Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, or Berserker -- they fall into.)
2. Reply to others' comments. Pick your character's role (and the other character's if they list "Either" as their preference), then use the RNG to pick a scenario that fits the two characters' roles.
3. Enjoy! Though there might be triggers, depending on how the prompts are interpreted.
TWO MASTERS
1. Battle. Who says that Servants get to have all the fun? After all, most Masters try to kill each other, too. Whatever the circumstances, the two of you are locked in a fight. Neither of you are willing to use your Command Spells just yet, so no Servants here. Just two magi duking it out.
2. Alliance. There's a bigger threat out there. Either one Servant is exceptionally powerful, or the situation has changed and the participants need to take action aginst it. One way or another, you're teamed up with one of your rivals for the Holy Grail. How long will this last before you try to stab each other in the back? Or, will something more develop?
3. Protection. Uh-oh! One of you has lost your Servant! Unfortunately, there's no way you'd get to the church safely on your own, so the other one will help you get there! Or maybe you don't trust the priest presiding over the Holy Grail War and are giving shelter to them yourself? Given their track record, no one would blame you.
4. Death. One or both of you lay dying. It might have been by the other's hand, or by someone else's entirely. How will you spend your last moments in the presence of one of your rivals?
5. You, Too? Surprise! You may have been friends before, but you've just discovered that you're both Masters! How will you handle this revelation?
6. Wild Card. Roll again, pick one of the previous options, or make one up!
1. Are You My Master? The summoning is complete. Whether intentional or not, catalyst or not, a magus has summoned a Servant. What kind of meeting was it? Was everything totally under control, or did a hitch occur? Or maybe it happened in the middle of a life-or-death situation!
2. Identity. Either the Servant has flat out told the Master their identity, or they unleashed their Noble Phantasm. Either way, the cat is out of the bag. How will the Master react, now that they know their Servant's name and legend? Will anything change between the two?
3. Battle Aftermath. A battle has just ended. Who participated? Are either of you hurt? Did the Master have to use a Command Spell? Any number of things could have happened here.
4. Discord. Uh-oh. It looks like the Master and the Servant don't get along. Here come the arguments! Don't do something stupid, like waste a Command Spell over a triviality...
5. Love. And then, there's the opposite. Sometimes Masters and Servants fall in love with each other. How will this affect things?
6. Wild Card. Roll again, pick one of the previous options, or make one up!
1. Battle. This is what usually happens when two Servants meet -- they duke it out. This probably says enough as it is.
2. Alliance. There's a bigger threat out there. Either one Servant is exceptionally powerful, or the situation has changed and the participants need to take action aginst it. One way or another, you're teamed up with one of your rivals for the Holy Grail. How long will this last before you try to stab each other in the back? Or, will something more develop?
3. The Grail Dialogues. Maybe you're not interested in fighting just yet. Maybe you just want to sit down and talk with the other Servant. Find out what they want, what makes them tick. Get some wine while you're at it -- nothing like good wine to go with good talk!
4. Death. One or both of you lay dying...again. It might have been by the other's hand, or by someone else's entirely. How will you spend your last moments in this War in the presence of one of your rivals?
5. Identity. Congratulations, you've just learned each other's identities! Will this change the situation, or will you press onward?
6. Wild Card. Roll again, pick one of the previous options, or make one up!
no subject
Even if in the old times, she would be riding alongside him with her own horse, she almost recalls their battles together with fondness. Like the time they were the only survivors left of King Vortigern's assault.
Nostalgia does not last long. Those songs of glory will never return and she never deserved them in the first place. The temple brings back a sense of cold and grounding reality. She dismounts the horse and nods at the steed direction as silent gratitude to carry her. The silence stretches as they ascend the steps. It is a familiar ritual. After her battle against her uncle and her formal enthroning, she isolated herself. Speaking only as it was expected, and answered in turn. She still feels that wall intact around Gawain. She wants to speak now, she does not know why, but she has to silent her tongue before her resolve faltered. The ascension seems excruciatingly long but they finally reached the temple.
Once there, she faces Gawain, expecting him to wait for her to speak first. She takes not offense, it was how she had foolishly permitted it to be.]
Will your Master find a temporal alliance agreeable until the other enemies Servants are defeated?
[She asks with a serious expression. She knows this is postponing the inevitable. However, she will not ask her knight to forfeit, if such thing would not sully his honor, he would have proposed it the moment he saw her. She is a king who never understood her subjects when they lived, but at least she has gained a greater understanding now
Her proposal is fairly sound. Other Master and Servants could have ill intentions that she is certain it is not in Gawain's case and they would be too distraught whoever wins the battle to continue fighting the other Servants with a clear mind without resentments at fate's cruel twist. Certainly, their Masters deserve better than that.]
no subject
[Even if he can make an educated guess. Considering the kind of person his Master was...well, it certainly wasn't out of the question that he might agree to something like that. Saber was the strongest class after all, so having to deal with someone like that last would be an advantage.
But there's also Leo's unwavering belief in himself and his victory. He might think that kind of alliance beneath him, as he is now...so it's hard to say. Yet no matter what Gawain thinks, it doesn't matter. He swore to sacrifice everything and simply serve to the best of his ability. A part of that means...]
If you wish to consult with your own Master and try to arrange an alliance between us, by all means. But...I only serve my King as a sword to guarantee his victory. Nothing else.
So asking me is a waste of time, si-...Saber.
[He'd taken to calling his Master by such because that's what he strove for. A king, one who sought to unite the world with the power of the grail and rule over it all with the best of intentions, as chosen heir of his family.
It's no wonder he summoned Gawain, really.]
no subject
[She replies calmly. It is the best course of action to have knowledge of this. She knows Gawain will not serve someone who is unworthy (except for Arturia, it has been his mistake as much as hers) or vile. She has already considering talking to her Master, who will be malleable to this agreement, though she brought this up so he would take measures too.
And as a warning. She has conducted herself appropriately in this affair to avoid regrets. Such a foolish notion when she knows she will regret it whatever the outcome is. With her heart at turmoil, it is best to forget it existed. It is easy to kill her feelings when she hears of Gawain speaking of another as his King. Is not this what she wishes?
Then, she should not feel a pang of sadness and anger. He too must have thought Arturia as an unworthy liege that is why he sought a new ruler to pledge himself to. This revelation only makes her more determinate to win for his sake and those she has abandoned.]
Rider, must I ask you something—
[She says after a moment she has remained immersed in silence. She has one last question.]
Rest assured, it is not related to your Master.
no subject
[Of course, the fact he's issuing that warning in itself is telling he's showing some concern. It's completely guileless, but that was also the kind of person Gawain just was.
But if he's ordered to, he will, even if it's her; that was his wish after all, one he didn't need the grail to achieve. To make up for his previous failures as a knight and serve someone properly, as the ideal knight legend painted him as. If he had to cast aside his self to achieve that then he would, choosing to be a Knight over a Person. He saw his inability to control his anger in life as the reason for many terrible things that occurred, including both his own death and hers, and the pain it must have caused Lancelot as well. To him, this was all he could do now.]
No, it's alright. What is it?
no subject
It always happens, sooner or later, when Anti-Heroes are summoned as well. She feels like these wars are a repetition to the last until she finds the answer she is looking for.]
Why— [She almost hesitates to ask him this. Does she fear his answer? No, she does not, he must have been dissatisfied with the outcome as much as she was.] do you seek the Holy Grail?
[A beat. It's almost unbearable to face him and wait for his answer.]
What is wish will you ask to be granted?
[She finishes, feeling redundant but it is important for her to know this. Sometimes she feels she is the only Servant who is actually fighting for the Holy Grail. Only the King of Conquerors have been interested in claiming it as much as she has.]
no subject
Facing her like this...no, it's just what he deserves.]
My wish...I do have a wish. But the grail has already given it to me.
[He closes his eyes, inhaling - and when he speaks again, he opens his eyes and looks upon her. He refuses to say all of this without giving her his full attention.]
Right before I died, I came to understand, your majesty...that in the end it was my lack of virtue that lead to your ruin. That had I been the kind of knight history remembers me as, perhaps your fall could have been averted. Perhaps had I not failed you, that battle would not have been your last.
So I lamented on my deathbed...my inadequacy as a knight. I realized my own shortcomings, and wished more than anything for a second chance, that I might serve another and succeed in my duty.
This is why I am a heroic spirit, called to these wars. I will serve to the best of my ability. I will suppress what remains of me as a person and simply choose to be a knight, nothing else.
If I can succeed at that...then my wish will be granted.
[It was cruel, really. That heroic spirits summoned as servants never remembered their time during the individual battles, he'd never really get what he wanted, even if he succeeded.]
so busy! will be slow until Wednesday night :(
In her mind, both he and Lancelot have been righteous and virtuous knights and their conducts have been excusable. She feels her heart sink even more while he derides her own worth as knight, it is another proof of her failures. He is lost, feeling inadequate because he served the wrong king.
She opens her mouth, but there are no words to comfort him. No reassurances. Nothing.
"You saved your people but you didn't lead them." Lancelot's madness, Gawain's shame. Guinevere's sorrow. Mordred’s desperation. What other proof does she need? He will serve a better king, one who never has him experience this kind of regret.]
Your wish will be granted.
[She assures him with a calm voice. Her gaze is heavy, fleeting regret flickers there. She wants to apologize to have failed him this badly, because he feels unworthy of his title and his honor and it should not be there.]
You never failed me as a knight.
gosh dont even worry about it! memes are chill. c: 1/2
He expects nothing less. To the knight who idolized the king most of all, how could he expect anything but that kind of forgiveness? That she could ignore what he'd done and try to ease his spirit. He appreciates it...but he can't accept it.
Because in the end, failures affect nobody more than the person who bears them. Others may suffer for them, perhaps even resent those who failed if it was particularly important, but for the likes of Gawain - hell, most of the knights of Camelot - the burden of guilt weighed upon them greater than anything else.
It was selfish in a way, but he'd accepted that. It was just another way he failed to meet the ideal he strove for.]
Please...please don't say that.
[He shakes his head, and his expression finally breaks into something softer. Subtle as it may be, it's a sorrowful one.]
I understand why you are, but...how could I possibly accept it? Between shunning Sir Lancelot and failing to defeat Mordred...I couldn't control my anger or my hatred. I couldn't forgive Lancelot for murdering Gareth or Gaheris. I couldn't move past my anger at Mordred for his betrayal, and for it I was defeated by an opponent I should not have fallen against.
And this...all of this lead to your death. How could a knight who allowed his lord to die be considered anything but a failure? It's selfish of me to say but...I can't forgive myself for my own shortcomings, even if you do.
no subject
He could easily convince himself it was were she not here. But it just serves to remind him of how much he'd hurt her and Lancelot. How they paid for his anger.
So he falls onto a single knee, his hand pressed flat against the ground, head bowed.]
...I'm sorry, sire. I'm sorry for everything.
[After a moment, he lets out a shake breath.]
Even this is born of my old selfishness, isn't it? To apologize when I've already rejected your forgiveness...but it's because of my own selfishness I'm here. To serve in this war with a motive like mine, how could I be anything but?
Even so, I can't help but say it. I would say it again and again until my throat was too hoarse to speak, yet no matter how many times you forgave me, I'd be unable to forgive myself. It's maddening.
All I can do is curse whatever it was that burdened you with such an unworthy knight to serve as your right hand.
so late sorry ;_;
A king should— She thinks about those bright smiles on Iskandar’s men when they charged against Assassin and almost wishes she would disappear. Gawain’s words only confirm just how unworthy of a ruler she is. How she has inspired only regrets rather than pride in her best men.
Her gaze remains unreadable when he speaks, she feels more and more walls building around her, so she will not shatter in front of him. He does not need to see her break. She could in front of Lancelot. Lancelot had been the closest confidant, with Merlin and Kay, but Gawain is different, he is someone Arthur trusts, rather than the remnants of Arturia. He never even learned her gender.
She is not sure he realizes this now, even if she has never cared about it.]
If your King were alive, would you still feel the same?
[She whispers, with a voice softer than she would have liked. Her tone is hopeful, if she cannot offer him salvation and guidance, then she will try to offer him the truth. A truth one will believe unthinkable because she is a Servant in a Holy Grail War.]
You protected your king, Sir Gawain. [She addresses him by his name for the first time, bowing her head in gratitude for all the years of services. She hopes nobody is watching, but she knows the weight of his honor relies on her to try to lift that imaginary smear.
She outstretches her right hand and closes it.]
My right hand is as skilled as usual. That is proof of a well given service. If the king stands, the knights meet no dishonor. Their duties have been fulfilled.
[She affirms, hoping he will not refuse this forgiveness like the other one; wishing at least to lessen a weight from his soul.]