Waver Velvet ( Lord El-Melloi II ) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
notoneounce) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bakerstreet2019-11-09 02:12 am
notoneounce) wrote in bakerstreet2019-11-09 02:12 am
i just wanted to protect you, but now i'll never get to... ( holy grail war )
The HOLY GRAIL WAR Meme
Who will it be?
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. Add other preferences if you would like. (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
She peers down at the lake and the cottage — well, it’s hard to think of it as a cottage when it is about twice as large as most people’s houses and built extremely professionally. ]
It...does look like it could be. I’ve never been there before, but I did manage to take a keyring from the household.
[ She places her free hand just below her neck, where a small pouch is hidden in her clothes, hanging from a string around her neck. ]
Even if...things hadn’t turned out the way they did, I was planning to escape. I couldn’t bring much, since I couldn’t hide very much no matter how little attention they paid to me. But this should get us inside, if this is the right place.
[ She falls silent as she waits for Tristan to find a place to set down, looking just a little melancholy. She didn’t have a lot of things she would have wanted from the Sperado mansion, but she wishes she could have brought her favourite book from the house library, at least. It must be ash by now. But, well, a hardcover book was not going to conceal well.. ]
no subject
Give me the key.
[ He could break in if need be, or find them someplace else to stay, but for the time being, he’ll bow to her preferences. She’s the mage between them, however inexperienced she might seem.
But she is so terribly fragile, having weighed far less than a little girl should as he’d carried her off to here. What else might be wrong with her, he wonders. What new surprises might he find if he enters that building? ]
I must make certain that there are no traps inside.
I hadn't even thought about traps until Tristan brought them up but here we go
Please be careful.
[ Leslie will be watching him from a decently safe distance, though she is wanting to be ready to try to help him if something goes wrong.
There are six keys on the ring (Leslie was unfortunately unable to identify which of them is for the actual "cottage"), as well as what Leslie assumes to be a very fancy keychain. There is a smooth green gem (an emerald, perhaps) embedded into a black ring. There is a very faint magic contained in it, but Leslie doesn't know how to sense such things yet.
As for the cottage, the windows are all trapped, with runes carved below the windowsill. The door and deck leading up to it are conspicuously entirely non-magical. One of the ordinary-looking keys fits in the unmagical door.
There's a relatively small entry hall for the size of the house, and the entire room is absolutely filled with traps of various degrees of obviousness under the theory that a cautious person might see the most obvious ones and not notice the less obvious ones lurking behind them.
Just on the inside of the door, where it's not easily seen from outside, there is a small circular, flat nub on the wall, a dark grey stone ring around a black stone circle. It looks a little like an electronic fob reader, but stone instead. It turns out that the keyring is actually basically a magical door fob. Pressing it against the stone circle on the wall for a couple of seconds will disable the interior traps so that they can send a servant ahead of them to prepare the cottage when they decide to head out to the lake. There are similar such stone fob readers on the inside of the windows to control the individual window traps before windows get opened.
If Tristan does not figure out this version, there's a series of about thirteen traps around the room that will need to be disabled in some way if they want to use this as their base, along with two on the door leading from the entryway into the rest of the house. Or he can deal with one of the window traps and just break in that way. ]
lmao can't help being paranoid when you came into the world with everything on fire
[ He closes both hands over hers for a moment before taking the keys away, offering her a smile that he hopes is reassuring. Then it’s off to the house itself. While he has a fair amount of Magic Resistance, there’s no telling what strange and terrible forces he might encounter within—let alone how to counteract them.
He resummons his weapon the moment he steps past the non-magical threshold. Already, he’s picked up on a few just past the door—not a good start. Is the rest of the house similarly dangerous? It would make a decent stronghold for an experienced mage—as no doubt whoever perished in those flames must have been—but for her…it might be for the best to simply seek out some other place entirely.
Still, now that he’s here, he decides to continue on with his investigations. He plucks at a few strings as he steps carefully into the entry hall, willing his music to trip up some of those traps he can see and to seek out the ones that he can’t.
And there are…an alarming number of those. Trapdoors yawn open where there once had been floors, poisoned darts whizz past his line of vision, flashing lights and whirrs and buzzes and clicks further into the house indicate that Failnaught must have caught more than a few. There might have even been a few growls from a stray familiar or two. But Tristan only turns around and takes a step back when he hears the door creak behind him, alarmed lest Leslie might have decided to follow him inside after all.
What comes into view is not a little girl, however, but a stone ring cunningly hidden on the inside of the door. ]
…
[ Moments later he emerges from the house to seek her out. Not all of the traps had been triggered or disarmed just yet, but he doesn’t want to spend too much time here and leave his master out and undefended. ]
Most of the house is secured, Master. I believe it will suffice as a stronghold for the time being.
FAIR POINT
[ But even as she asks the question, she is already walking towards him. Leslie is a practical sort, after a lifetime of learning the evils of the world...in her head. Her heart, however, is much less cautious. Whatever she might tell herself of the dangers that face a child with strong powers, it doesn’t take long for her to come to trust those who show her kindness.
Still, she tells herself, it’s not like she’s working on no information. This is Sir Tristan, Knight of the Round Table. Accounts vary on the details of his legends, including even name, and some versions demonstrate what she would consider poor judgment (especially as someone with no experience in love of any kind, and somehow even less so with romantic love). But nothing she has read indicates he will do anything to harm her.
It’s not like she’s got a wife for him to steal.]no subject
She will in time]I found it best to leave some of them untouched, in case of intruders.
[ That aren’t them, anyway. But that mysterious gem seems to have done its work for the most part, though he avoids touching the traps on the outer walls of the building.
One can only hope that there aren’t any flame traps here.
He holds his hand out to her, offering her the key ring. ]
Shall we go inside, Master?
no subject
How long do you expect this holy grail war to lastShe nods and takes the keys from him. ]
Yes, we shall. ...But please let me know where the ones you left untouched are.
[ Past the actually reasonably sized entryway (Leslie wipes her short boots carefully on the entry mat), the rest of the "cottage" is basically only distinguished from a mansion because the windows are larger. It's a little smaller than the old Sperado mansion, but it's still significantly bigger than most houses. Leslie looks around the much more enormous foyer, with stairways going up and down. To the left, there's a door to an expansive dining room, with fine china that is apparently considered so below the now deceased owners' notice as to be able to just be left here when they aren't visiting. To the right, a door leads to a library with bookshelves towering twice Tristan's height, even though it looks like none of the books have been touched in years. Past the stairs, there's the sight of a living room with nearly floor to ceiling windows.
Leslie stops about three steps into the foyer, staring. Sure, she'd grown up in a mansion (she'd never left it), but she wasn't allowed in most of it. Right now, it will only be the two of them and no restrictions on movement. ]
...I didn't think it was going to be this big when I heard about it.
no subject
And things are only bound to get worse.
He waits beside her as she takes in the enormity of her new home, casting worried glances here and there even though he’s certain he’s dealt with all the immediate dangers. But after all, that might be the only thing he’s good at here. ]
It seems that this Sperado family was quite distinguished.
[ So where does that leave her? She’d never given him her surname. And she’d called herself a nobody besides. What was her relation to this family? Does it matter?
He sighs. ]
Assuming that they have no further allies, I see no reason why you cannot use this as your new home. So, Master… [ he frowns ] Why not relinquish your seals now? Command me to disarm all the traps within this house and leave the war behind. That would be the quickest way to your wish.
no subject
They had a lot of money.
[ Granted, it's true that they were distinguished in other ways. The Sperados were once an immensely powerful and influential family. Despite a few disappointing generations, Leslie's older sister was hailed as the one who would bring back their past glories...had she survived. But Leslie isn't going to call them distinguished if she can help it.
Still, her (extremely justified) grudge against the Sperado family aside, Tristan's suggestion is a much more important point to think about. And she frankly doesn't know which would be safer, between being a participant of the Holy Grail War, or being an untrained mage not yet in adulthood who has been raised to be used as a tool to strengthen mages during a Holy Grail War. She doesn't know how well the latter is known or if her family kept it enough of a secret to take it to the grave with them.
It's a debate she will have to have with herself, and with Tristan, but there is one question that she can ask while she still doesn't know how to feel about the other reasons: ]
I heard that Heroic Spirits work with the Masters of the Holy Grail War because they have a wish of their own. Are you really so ready to abandon yours?
[ If he has one. She realizes there could be exceptions. ]
no subject
Which is admirable, if a bit inconvenient under the circumstances. He sighs, peering at her for a good long moment before replying: ]
I have no wish.
[ At least, none that would ordinarily be possible. Who knows who the enemy Saber might end up being, after all. But given his own limited knowledge, Tristan can only assume the worst. And that may or may not bode ill for his own master. ]
The summons earlier…I merely responded to a call for aid, as a knight should. My own desires are irrelevant.
no subject
Oh. Is that why....
[ She trails off. Things were so — busy at the time of Tristan’s summoning. She wondered why she had the command seals, but she came to the conclusion that it was because the original Master died before the summoning was complete. But if he came to respond to a call for aid...had she accidentally summoned him with her panicked wishes to be saved from the fire?
She takes a deep breath and her expression moves from surprised to serious. ]
I don’t believe that your desires are irrelevant. If you hadn’t come, I — [ She swallows hard. ] I would have died, in — in the worst way possible.
[ She shudders. Don’t think about the fire. Don’t think about the fire. Don’t think about — She places her hand on her chest. ]
Sir Tristan. You saved my life. I wasn’t even intended to be a Master in this war. The circle, the catalyst — it was all for the Sperado’s eldest daughter, Eli. I was only there to be a...a tool, for my sister’s use.
[ She grimaces a little. She’s tried to stop referring to the Sperados as her family, not wanting anything tying her to them (and yet here she is, using their property, a thought she is trying to ignore says). But until a matter of weeks ago, she still called them all her sister, her mother, and her father. It’s a slip she’s going to still make sometimes. ]
But you came to save me when I called for help. You were the first person — [ oh right, there’s also those vengeful dead kid ghosts, but she’s pretty sure they helped her to fulfill their desire for revenge ] You were the first person who saw that I needed help and extended your hand to me for no reason but to save me. I can’t accept that you, or your desires, don’t matter. You saved my life.
[ She looks down at the hand on her chest, where her command seals sit, clear as day. She doesn’t want to let him go yet. Even if she knows she will have to one day to have a chance of surviving the war without the seemingly impossible task of winning it, she doesn’t want to let go of this person who protected her yet. But.... ]
If...if you want to leave, I will use up the seals. I...don’t have anything else I can give you in return.
no subject
[ He says after much contemplation, frowning as the unusual circumstances of his summoning finally tumble out. It’s difficult to ascertain how a Servant is summoned when one is within the Throne and very little of the other side presents itself to him until the crucial moment of his arrival.
What would have happened if he had been summoned by her sister instead? He shudders at the thought, even as he still feels a pang of sadness for those that have died in that mansion.
But that’s all in the past, now, however immediate that past was. He has her future to think of, now. A Heroic Spirit must, after all, attend to the living above all else.
Again, he opens his eyes, peering at her keenly in the dark. ]
How sad...how very sad to have heard all of this. These are tragic circumstances indeed. I would be remiss to leave a young maiden so alone and defenseless in her time of need. So you need not worry, Master. I will remain for as long as you wish it, and protect you as my powers allow.
[ As to his own wishes…still he tries to shove that topic aside. Anything he comes up with won’t be half as pertinent as a young girl’s needs of the moment, after all. ]
no subject
The answer is absolutely worth the wait, though, tears of relief welling up in her eyes. She knows that what happened to her is wrong, if only for the last several weeks, but it means so much to hear it in a voice that isn't her own. It meant even more since she has begun to suspect from now and the previous time that Tristan opening his eyes is something he only does when he is most taking things most seriously.
A blush follows not long after the a few tears overflow, embarrassed by the way her emotions are running over, but she doesn't try to cover it, maintaining eye contact, trying to meet sincerity with sincerity. ]
I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable.
[ Or sad. She doesn't know how much she's going to hear that word over this war. ]
But I have to thank you for staying. You're a good person, Sir Tristan. I'm glad that I met you.
[ She gives a watery smile. ]
So...I guess this will be your home, too, for now.
[ She blinks and looks slightly distracted. ]
Welcome home? I think that's what I've heard people say, but then again...you entered here first.
no subject
[ He shuts his eyes once more, but there’s a hint of a smile to him now as he kneels down to her height and draws her into an embrace, taking care to give her head a good petting while he’s at it. ]
So dry your tears, my little Master. While it is true that a budding flower shines with the evening dew, it is better still if she blooms in the light of the sun.
[ Not that there’s any such light to be found in here at the moment, but look, poetry waits for no one. And again, he’s struck by how fragile she is, and how much she’s pent up in that tiny body of hers. It seems a terrible turn of history that, years after King Arthur’s death, people must still suffer in this way.
How sad… ]
sorry for disappearing for a week!
Regardless, it’s possible to feel her relax over time in his embrace. She does not return the hug herself, as her hands and arms are too occupied in trying to wipe away any remaining tears. Thanks to the calming influence of having her head pet, her tears are slowing to a stop, but it’s not immediate, so there’s a lot of work involved in drying her eyes. ]
Is that from a poem? I don’t recognize it, but it sounds like the kind of metaphor that would be used in one.
[ In this AU, Leslie’s education is well-suited for understanding the meaning of his flowery words — plenty of information on legendary figures are passed down in poetry — but she’s been surrounded by much too literal people to realize that some people just talk like that sometimes, even when she could cite like twenty sources off the top of her head that say that Tristan was a harpist. ]
no problem! glad to see you back!
[ Look, if it wasn’t poetry before, it sure is now. It’s another thing that she may have to get used to.
But he does let up on the petting at last, knowing that they still have to secure the perimeter and also get her to bed, because curfews wait for no one, not even Holy Grail Wars. Straightening up, he surveys the area around them once more, deeming themselves to be alone and trap-free, for the time being.
The sensible thing to do would be to discuss strategy, especially since Tristan has no need of sleep himself and can certainly take on some extra work like conducting reconnaissance during the rest of the night. But he is not here to lead, however, though it looks like he might have to provide some guidance given her…situation. ]
But for now…what do you wish to do, Master?
no subject
Ah, but the petting is ending and the question begins. Time to shift into thinking mode. ]
We should start by checking the kitchen to see if there is any food left, right? I was able to steal some money from them before I tried to escape, so we'll be able to buy food for a while. Maybe we can sell some of the things around here after that?
[ These are important considerations, though the way in which this is the first thing she considers may suggest her lack of experience in war. She starts to walk towards the dining room, hoping to find the kitchen near there, but after a moment, she stops and turns in Tristan's direction. ]
You don't have to flatter me, you know. It doesn't bother me. My appearance, I mean. I've seen the kinds of things that beauty can be built on, with Eli and everyone. So it's okay.
I knew she was capable of bullying him!
…I see.
[ Not that her considerations are unimportant, but…well. This is rather unexpected of a mage, even an unorthodox one, given these trying times. Maybe he should point out that he was being utterly sincere about his compliments? Offer to hunt for food? Goodness, would he even be able to in this era? There are forests and such enough, but…
There are so many things to take note of, and he hasn’t even realized that he’s as much a babysitter as a warrior now. Truly he’s become a Servant in all senses of the word…! ]
All these things I can certainly do for you, Master.
[ Well, the stealing part does bother him a bit, but considering the circumstances…at least she’s feeling better after her recent adventures. If all these can keep her mind off of the trauma of a few hours ago, then so much the better. ]
Shall I sing for you as well, and fill these dark and empty halls with my music?
now she just has to do it outside a gagtag
Good luck, Tristan! Raising a child is a big responsibility and your decision to stick around means it is now yours. It's going to especially be fun if he's around as she tries to go to bed, because all of this is probably going to catch up to her and she'll sob, but for now, she's able to put it out of her mind.
At Tristan's offer, Leslie's expression brightens considerably. ]
I would love to hear your music! I've read a lot of songs, but I've never heard anyone singing them. I always wondered what it must sound like when stories described music as such a wonderful thing.
[ She's heard some servants hum under their breath as they've worked, but that's legitimately the extent of her music exposure. With the typical mage distaste for technology, she didn't even have the opportunity to overhear her family using any kind of music-playing device.
But there's something else that she hasn't mentioned before, since it was rather busy before: ]
Though...you can just call me Leslie. Some of the time, it would be useful to have a way to not use names in front of anyone who might be involved in the war, but when it's just us, being called Master feels strange. I don't want to act like [ hmm, she can't really get the lower case of master and servant across in spoken words so ] employer and employee. Unless...you'd prefer it like that.
[ She still plans to call him Sir Tristan because do as I say not as I do. She's really not used to the idea of being treated as someone important. ]
I believe in her!!!
Though, okay, his sense of elation’s been dampened somewhat at the prospect that she’s never heard music before. That’s…That’s beyond sad! He hesitates for a moment as she continues on, but decides that, for the time being, he won’t protest.
Cheering her up comes first. ]
Then, Miss Leslie [ fight him ] I should be glad to celebrate our contract with something cheerful. Although I must admit that joyous songs are not my forte…
[ Ahahahahaha, that’s probably a bad time to bring it up though— ]
Your smile alone inspires me.
[ With that said, he pulls up his harp and embarks on this merry little tune. ]
her true wish on the grail: drag tristan
I said you don't have to flatter me....
[This time, though, she does react, holding her hands over her lightly blushing cheeks. She instantly dismissed the idea of herself being beautiful, but she can't be quite so 100% certain that she doesn't have a nice smile, so that's something that makes her a little flustered.
But as the song starts, she is distracted from her fluster. Having no experience with music before, it takes her a moment to realize what it's doing to her feelings, but soon, her smile slowly returns. It's not as big as the one when he suggested the song in the first place, but there is a clear warmth to her entire expression as she gets lost in the music. Kitchen? What kitchen? She's just standing here listening to the music.
She's still staring for several seconds after he stops. She blinks a couple of times and then brings her hands together...exactly once. A lack of music experience means she doesn't know about applauding, either, but she is holding her hands together in front of her as she looks at him with an expression of awe.]
That was...I don't know how to describe it. Amazing?
now that's a cause worth fighting for
It makes his soul feel just a tad lighter as well, and he chuckles. ]
I am accustomed to hearing praise, but coming from you, such heartfelt words are truly something special.
[ The lack of applause doesn’t bother him, not when her smile is already brightening the place up. As the new mistress of this atelier, it’s as good a start as any. ]
But even so…music alone will not help us win the war.
no subject
It won't. ...I wish that it didn't have to come to a fight like this. Surely, if they wanted to, they could work together. I heard once that most mages share a wish to see the...world tree?
[She means the Root, but her magecraft is entirely self-taught outside of improving her magic circuit efficiency.]
But I know that no one who is intentionally participating will think that way, so even surviving the war, we'll have to work from a position of strength. I...don't really know anything about war, though.
no subject
Were it in my power to do so, you would never have to, Miss Leslie.
[ Even his Independent Action skill can only last him so long, after all. ]
But I will do everything in my power to keep you out of the fighting. But as to the war itself…it need not hinge on mere combat alone. If we can form alliances…
[ Well, now. One of them is certainly quite good at that, isn’t she? ]
no subject
Thank you, Sir Tristan. I'll do what I can to support you, but...I'm glad you will be protecting me.
[ She is, in fact, excellent at gaining sympathy from people who aren't assholes. Unfortunately, she's mostly only known assholes before today, so she doesn't realize she is. ]
I would like that, though I don't know anything about diplomacy, either.
[ Ah, and there goes that smile again. She feels a little useless with all of the things she doesn't know. ]
Maybe if we can convince the right people that we aren't a threat to winning the war, but are too much trouble to have to face directly, there would be those who would leave us alone, or at least only require us to help them. After all, you don't have a wish, and I don't need something as great as a grail to answer mine so long as I survive this war.
(no subject)
(no subject)