bakerstreet | You are my master

You are my master

One small spanner in the works can change nothing and yet everything at the same time.

The world you live in is a lot like the normal one. History progresses more or less as it should. Technology flourishes. Empires build upwards, then crumble and fall. The only difference? Somehow, along the way, society has stratified into three categories:

Normal: The regular folks. Nothing more, nothing less.
Fighters, Berserkers, or Servants: The nomenclature depends on who you ask, but the fact reminds that these people have incredible powers, the nature of which varies yet can range from psychic abilities to resilience to super strength. However, the downside is that, without a "master" (we'll get to that later) as a partner, they can feel listless and not even have control of their powers. Their drive, whether they accept it or not, is to find the true master that will calm them and help them sharpen their abilities - and there is only one, true match. No substitutes accepted, and the longer they hold off on finding their master, the looser their grip becomes. In some parts of society, fighters are considered second class citizens, but this isn't a usual situation.
Masters: Think of these folks as focusing lens. They usually have no special powers, but they can hone the abilities of their "servant" to a T. There are a few benefits, including having someone willing to protect...and sometimes, care...for you at all costs. However, the primary benefit is that unpaired masters are often killed off by rogue fighters or forced into bonds that don't work by half-insane ones.

Once a master/fighter pair is made, there have been reports of psychic connections and fighters being strengthened by the mere presence of their master, which means pairs ofter live together. This is helpful, because despite the fact that you would think pairs would want to peacefully coexist, there's been strife since, well, before anyone can remember. Other pairs will feel a desire to defend their territory and status, and even non-violent pairs will find themselves attacked. There's

One more important thing to note: it's not generally accepted for fighters and masters to be romantically involved. In fact, it's frowned upon. But, given the close living quarters, expectations, bonds, and the fact that no one will be as close or as understanding - ah, it's best to say there's more of a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Yet as a fighter or a master, you won't fall for your partner...

...will you?

HOW TO PLAY

Comment with your character, preferences, and their role (fighter, master, normal). Feel free to include as much information as you'd like.
Reply to others.
RNG to get your prompt!

PROMPTS

Discovery: You've just found out your status as fighter or master. How do you respond?

First Sight: Oh, who is that? Whoever it is, your heart is already racing and your instincts are kicking in.

Trying It Out: It's a trial period for your fighter/master pairing, and you must get into sync.

Bond: You've decided that this is the forever relationship you want and are prepared for the ceremony, which is, essentially, a blood oath.

Not Right: Because of societal pressure or just by being unbonded at the wrong time, you've been forced into a partnership that doesn't work. Aside from being miserable, it could also be dangerous, as the fighter's powers could go haywire.

Unhealthy: In this relationship, the fighter is viewed by the master as their property. Or, in the inverse, the master is viewed as weak and resented.

Adoration: Unlike the unhealthy relationship, in this bond, the fighter puts the master above all else and quite nearly worships them.

Save: You want to take away a fighter or a master because you care for them and their partner isn't treating them well. That's noble...but is it such a good idea?

Doting: Some fighters or masters feel the urge to take care of their partner's needs, especially when they forget to take care of themselves.

Fluff: There are actually fun, loving moments between the well-adjusted fighter and master, even in the most volatile of scenarios.

Calm: It's a rare time of peace where the partners can be almost domestic.

Heal: Injuries and mental hurts need to be taken care of, simultaneously strengthening the bond.

Assigned: The pairing of you and your fighter or master was not natural. You were picked strategically for each other.

Power Up: You have to become stronger. Luckily, you can get power and focus right from the tap.

Need: You're desperate for your fighter or master, and your body and mind are rebelling against you because of it.

Training: A fighter and master must work as one, and this ability must be practiced.

Sense: Your master is in trouble, you can just feel it.

Return: You two have been kept apart and are finally able to return to each others' presence.

Pose: Actually, you're the opposite of what you're pretending to be - ie, a fighter is really a master - and so is you're partner. You're just posing for some reason or another.

Love: You've fallen in love, as it's incredibly hard not to do so, but you must act as if nothing's changed.

Public: You can't take it anymore. You two want to be acknowledged as a normal couple, and you want the world to know it.

Most Pure Partnering: What better way to hone a fighter's skill than through the ultimate support: sex? The obligatory smut option.

Mismatched: You've fallen in love with a fighter when you're a fighter or a master when you're a master.

Not in Step: You're a terrible pairing. The two of you together makes no sense at all, but you must make it work.

Childhood: From the very beginning of your life, you have been brought up as the perfect fighter or master.

Don't Belong: You're normal; the only reason you're involved in all this is because the person you love is a fighter or master.

Masters' Privilege: Masters can have a love interest in the "normal world"; fighters cannot. Is this a point of contention between you two?

Dark Underbelly: You're a fighter or a master from the part of the world that sees fighters as second class. Can you learn that there's a different way?

Jealous: The person you really want isn't your partner.

Possession: After seeing the wandering eyes of your partner, you feel the need to remind them that it's you and them against the world.

Comfort: The events of the day didn't go as planned, and one of you needs reassuring.

Berserk Button: Your master has been threatened. You must destroy anyone who could have harmed them. Can you be brought back from the brink?

Unexpected: A master protecting a fighter? Unheard of!

Double Trouble: At least one of you in your pair is sadistic and looks for other fighter and master duos to torment, both physically and sexually, even if they don't want to fighter. The other party is willing or at the very least unable to be noncompliant.

Attacked: You're a peaceful pair, but you've been sought out and our in danger.

Need a Boost: Right in the middle of a fight, the fighter's strength is fading. The master must step in and show support or affection.

To Be Left Alone: Your partner is leaving you. It is your duty to convince them to stay.

Defeat: The battle didn't go your way. Your partner has been slain in front of your eyes; if you're a master, perhaps it was to get at you. Your humiliation is cinched by your being claimed.

Betrayal: In a twist of fate, the one you should trust the most has been working against you this entire time.

WILDCARD

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[definitely a fighter/berserker. he's strong, but he's not very good without someone to lead him/a strategist]

[Can be either or in this scenario. If summoned, a mage with strong healing and protective magic.]

[Canonly, she is more likely to be the one screwing around with dark magic that she shouldn't and summoning something ~~awful~~. Am open to other scenarios, however.]

( fighter/berserker, pls! assumed cr where they've been a pair for awhile now is very welcome. )

[Definitely fighter because well, he's a ghoul.

Happy to do this as an AU or in some OU setting, assumed CR very welcome.]

[ Can be either master or fighter. Assumed CR is okay! m/f for shipping. ]

[Can be either master or fighter, and assumed CR is totally okay! Basic info here!]

[Could be a Master, an especially listless Fighter, or a Normal.]

{ Voice-testy, and very curious as to how being servant/fighter or master would fit Allura. Open to canonmates and non-canonmates alike! Let me know if you would like me to write up a starter :D }

[A master, and one who's very aloof and distant because of his own bad experiences and negative expectations of the world.]

[[ she's definitely a fighter, whichever type can be determined by you because she can fit all of them, but she's completely unsuited for master ]]

[100% Grade-A Berserker. Like, my love for you is like a truck. Berserker.]

[They cut quite the fashionable silhouette backlit as they are by the headlights of Excella's absurdly expensive car, said woman leaning languidly against the hood as she files her nails.]

Boredom doesn't befit either of us, I fear, amica mia.
Any suggestions?

[The clothes she's conjured fit her mistress to the letter; stately, sleek, just the suggestion of swift decimation beneath the french cuffs and notch lapels. Pretty as a picture. Almost as pretty as the images swirling through her mind at the question — "Suggestions?" All the permission one could want for creativity.

She lets her eyes dart here and there, taking full stock of her surroundings a moment, letting her thoughts glint off illustrative fancies of windmills thatched with skin and bone from storied forms, arrogant men playing at war forced under sharp heels, the marrow of her competition hollowed out. She turns a broad smile and eyes full of promise on Excella before walking to the concrete guard at the curb.

It comes in one motion, her manicured hand driving into the concrete like talons into a carcass, the barricade crumbling under the force while her mind reached into her mistress'. Action accompanied by a taste of her vision for the night. A skull collapsing as easily as this, a flawless kill to start. More.]

[The message sent by such a physical display would have been loud and clear even without the mental bond of Master and Beserker, but she's pleased for it all the same. There's nothing quite like being on the same page, after all.

With a swift movement that hints at years of practice, Excella spins her metal nail file in manicured fingers like a knife, eyes never leaving Vice's, smile that's almost certainly predatory creeping onto her face and exposing the lightest hint of teeth.]

Of course, my dear.

[There's a dark laugh somewhere behind those words, the endearment sincere despite it.]

How could I veto the proposal of such a wonderful recreational activity?

[The approval of her marvelous plan garners a bark of laughter. What a treasured companion to find in such a lackluster world. Vice abandons the curb — and the mess she's made for this sad little city's maintenance workers — wholesale for the passenger side door. She swings it open and holds it, watching Excella. Waiting.

Such a night of sport can only begin after her mistress takes her place.]

[either or, likely smol Master]

Open to both fighter or master role, depending on what the other player would like. If chosen as a master he'll lack confidence in his abilities, but he is up to the task.

I'm open to doing the starter tag. Open to friendship, fluff, smut, all sorts.

Edited 2016-11-25 07:44 (UTC)

[Master.]

I warned you to let me take care of this from a distance, Kaoru-dono.

[ Kenshin avoids looking into her eyes as he places her on the ground, the packed dirt of the dojo courtyard hard beneath his knees. She's alive and no longer in danger, and that's what matters; but an angry something claws at his chest, turns his face away when he looks at her. It could have been worse—should have been worse. Kenshin knows he's very angry about that. But he can't very well be so angry at merely a should, and there lies the rest of the problem.

So he stands, brushing the dirt from his knees and holding in the wince that threatens to blanch across his face at the sharp pain in his side. ]

The other Masters will know there was fighting. They may be quick to seize an advantage.

[He was right, part of her knew that, but she'd never been one to sit behind the wards and let someone else just fight her battles. At the very least, she needed to be there, to see for herself.

Because it wasn't fair to make him fight alone, even if the nature of the war called for that. Kaoru settled on her feet, her gaze dropping to his side before she disappeared inside, retrieving the medical supplies.]

We're behind wards. If they enter, we'll have a warning, at least. Let me look at your side...

[ He hesitates, considering refusing her offer of help, and then nods and slips off one sleeve of his kimono, pulling it loose so that she can see where he has been wounded. His Servant's body is undoubtedly able to withstand more than his Master's, but that doesn't mean he's immune to it. And, as he's told her, more are likely to be drawn towards them with the knowledge that at least one Servant has probably been injured tonight. If he is going to protect her, he must be ready.

Readier than he was, when he'd nearly let her get hurt. With whom am I so angry?

He will not kill anyone in this war. Not even another Servant, and certainly not another Master. Not a human life. Kenshin brushes his fingertips across the X-shaped scar on his cheek. He has to find a way to keep her safe and end it, with no bloodshed, no loss of life; but he cannot escape the fighting. As Saber, he cannot escape the war. ]

It isn't as serious as it seems. Is Kaoru-dono unhurt?

Yeah, I'm fine, Kenshin, but... [Even if it's likely to heal on it's own, she's still cleaning the wound and bandaging it. It's not like she can take him somewhere to get it looked at properly.

But maybe Megumi will stop by...]

You're not fighting these battles alone, okay?

[ At those words Kenshin finally looks at her—really looks at her, as he hasn't done since they've returned to the safety of the dojo—and takes her by the wrist, pulling her away from the attention she's been giving to his wound. He turns her hand over, lifts it so that it's palm up, and spreads her fingers so that it lies flat in both of his.

That's his blood hot on her fingers. But it's her warmth that sustains his body in the world now. ]

...Your breath... your beating heart. [ He can feel her pulse in her wrist beneath his fingertips. ] You're alive. In this world, in this time... you are real. [ The implication hangs unspoken: unlike himself. ] There's no reason to bloody your hands in such a way...

[ But she summoned into this war for a reason, didn't she? She must have a reason for wishing to fight. Everyone has a reason to fight.

He lets out a breath and with it drops her hand, looking as though he's only just realized that he's holding it and that it may have been a somewhat embarrassing realization. ]

—Oro.

Being alive now doesn't change the fact that you're... Nobody should fight alone. I've known this was coming and I've been preparing for it, okay? This isn't a new idea for me and I'm not going to shrink behind walls when I can actually do something to help.

And- [There was a long moment of silence when he had her hand, Kaoru's gaze dropping for a moment before looking back up, taking in his expression when he realized it.

And then bursting out laughing before she can stop it, wiping her eyes.]

Let me finishing wrapping your wound, okay? We can figure out our next step then.

[ Both Kaoru's response and her laughter pull Kenshin out of that deep, focused existentialism and all he can really do is stare at her. ]

Oro.... [ Well, and say that. ] I think I've missed a joke, so I have...

[ yes kenshin and the joke is that you're old-fashioned and ridiculous ]

Still, you shouldn't unnecessarily put yourself in danger. [ There's a change in his tone now. It's lighter, almost finger-wagging in his lecture, but it sounds as though he almost expects her to argue—and he's notably not trying to tell her to stay entirely out of it as before. ] You should have a realistic expectations of your skills.

And I'm not going to just sit back here and pace and worry and wait while you're off risking your life for me, Kenshin Himura. That's not how this works. I'm not completely helpless here.

I know I'm nowhere near the level of you or the other servants, I'm not going to try and get between you during a fight or something stupid, but...I can't just stay behind.

[She's quiet for a moment before her voice softens.]

As for the um, the laughter...I'm sorry, just....the look on your face over that.

[ Her role to play is that of a Master: one who could, as most choose, stay as far away from the danger and send her Servant to do the fighting for her. But that isn't the role she intends to play. Do you see that look that passes briefly, briefly in his eyes? That might be called awe.

That smile, Kenshin decides there and then, is what he is fighting to protect. ]

...Very well. [ He decides not to respond to the comment about the look on his face. Whup ] Kaoru-dono is stubborn, I see.

[ His gaze drops briefly back down to his injured side. ]

I don't know when the next fight will be. But until then, I'll rest here a while.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You are my master

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