[IC] Fate/Reborn 2.0 First War

[Twinwolf]

Erica - [Rider and Erica]

 

8 hours ago, Hukuna the Undying said:

It didn't take too long to ascend however they were on the side of the ship and would have to climb up. Well, that would be if Ignacio had the patience for such a thing. He didn't. "Alroight, flying time~" He heaved her with all of his strength and flung her over the railing of the ship. One would think she'd end up crashing into the deck however, Ignacio had already planned ahead and standing in wait was a skeletal crew member with a load of cushioned material, more or less what looked like an old spring mattress. She landed on it bouncing up and down a few times. Ignacio himself swung his massive body around on the anchor chain wrung up just enough momentum to get himself up and over. He crash landed onto his face but he managed. He quickly stood up and dusted himself off.
 

"Weeelcome abroad the Iron Mango! Aye... ain't she a beaut? A sight for sore eyes... it warms the barnacles that arrrr slowly encrusting me 'eart."

 

"It's a very impressive ship, to be sure." Erica says, getting to her feet and nodding to the skeleton. A bit disconcerting, sure, but not an abnormal summon. "So, I suppose what we do next is look for other Servants? I'm guessing that most will be looking for somewhere to set up, a home base they can defend - we have an advantage since our home base came with you."

 

Ciri - [Alexander/Ciri]

 

Ciri had followed out of the car in her spirit form, staying near Alexander. She listened with curiosity- this would quite help, if what she believed was going on was correct. When she was told she could reappear she did so, right next to Alexander. "I take it that that should secure a location for us?" she asks, to confirm. "If it's right on a leyline intersection, it should take significant strain off of you and me both."

[Shamitako]

Kevin

 

"My wish is no secret. "Kevin said, "I just want to ask the Grail what my connection to that shrine, and by extension the Grail itself, is." He shrugged, "It's nothing particularly world-altering, but I think that's good. As for a vantage point, I don't see that being of much use. You're not going to be launching attacks halfway across the city, and if you need to find your way around we can get you a look at some maps." The question of how many opponents there were was a curious one. Kevin had read some information on the war of course, but it was rather vague about those rules. "Well, the only real rules are that there has to be a Saber, Lancer, and Archer. Which means there's at least two others. Beyond that I don't know."

 

Merlin

 

Several fireballs smacked into Merlin before James activated his Command Seal, but the instant he did, they stopped. Merlin made no attempt to resist, not that resisting would have done much. "That was terrible wording." She said flatly, "I stopped now, but what's to prevent me from starting again? You should have said something like 'don't kill yourself.'" She considered actually making another attempt and forcing him to blow another Command Seal, but thought better of it. That wouldn't help anything, it would just strain their relations more. "Tell you what." she said, "Let's play a game. If you win, I'll do whatever you say for the rest of the war without you needing to use any more Command Seals. If I win, we go have fun for a while before we start fighting."

[Strider]

[Archer & Kevin]

“Oh. Hrmph. Maps will do. So there's at least three teams...But there might be tons more? I hope your friend with the info is something special, cause otherwise, I don't like our chances. No idea how many servants? There could be like thirty of the bastards, and we have no clue where any are. Eh, there's probably not much to do about it, and you're not to blame anyway...You have some freaky connection to the shrine?” Darien shifted his weight inside the vehicle. If Kevin took a moment to look in the rearview mirror, he would probably be able to tell that the first new drone was already done, which would bring his current drone total to four. “Why don't you tell me a bit more about that. If we've got some spooky connection, I should probably know in case you start glowing or something.”

 

[Alexander/Ciri]

“Yes. Highlark owns a lab in the eastern section of the industrial district. We should be well supplied with mana.” The manservant opened the doors to the car and, as soon as Alexander and Ciri had entered, they set off again, this time heading south. They passed for a bit through more residential areas filled with the houses of the elite, in styles from every era and country. After a time though, there was a shift and the sprawling lawns that lined the dark streets shifted into shops, office buildings, and brightly lit sidewalks. In this dim light that shown in through the windows, Alexander stared at his fingers. “Tell me Caster, what did you think of Terrence Highlark? He is, after all, one of the foremost in the field of magical research, one of the richest inhabitants of this town, and current owner of most Latvia. And Sally is quite the little mage. She shows more talent at nine than I could have mustered at sixteen." And yet it had sounded as though the child adored Alexander.

"Tell me your impressions. I want to know what you paid attention to.”

[Shamitako]

Kevin

 

"Well, if any get close, you'll sense them. Unless they're Assassin, then we may be in trouble." Kevin said nonchalantly, "I can't really explain my connection to the shrine, I just felt drawn to it. I don't know why or even how. But somehow it's important to me." The van reached the edge of the suburbs and Kevin took a right, heading south.

[ElfCollaborator]

 

Sophie - [Lancer and Sophie]

"G-get your stomach away from my face! Is EVERY Servant like....this?!"

Sophie groaned for the umpteenth time that night, placing her head in her hands.

 

So not only was her Servant a masochist, but also a weirdo who somehow thought magical rituals involving blood made you fat. Or maybe they did and Sophie was the weird one. Wonderful.

 

She was beginning to regret accommodating her parents' request.

 

 

Nick and Jack Sloane - [Berserkers and Eleonore]

Both brothers look rather surprised.

"Oh, so you want us to 'old back on 'em, eh?"

"Want us to play nice, luv?"

The brothers turn to each other, discussing something in harsh and quick whispers. Something about "savouring the fun" and "enjoying the ride" can be heard, but their accents and their rushed whispering make it hard to tell what they're saying.  Nick looks irritated and annoyed by whatever Jack is saying, but eventually closes his eyes sighing. Eventually, both brothers share a nod, turning back to their Master.

"Sure, luv."

"Sure, luv."

"'E figures it'll be more fun to fight when we 'aven't fought for a while. Savouring the taste and all that, like a good meal after a long day. I don't see the point of it, but 'e's always been like that, the smarter one."

"Not for nothin' do I plan all our fights, mate. You'd get us all blown to 'ell by them guys in the Union if you did it!"

"And now you've gone and gotten us into an agreement to not get into any fights, bruv! I thought we were brothers, bruv!"

"Oi, oi, she didn't say we couldn't 'ave fun anyway, just said we couldn't go around beatin' up people. 'Sides, we're in one of 'em wars what call other people to fight, Nick. Just wait and a good fight will come to us."

".....alright, Jack, but I swear down, if it doesn't, this is your fault, yeah?"

"Bruv, she could just use one of 'em Command Seals and make us listen anyway. This way, we don't get leashed, yeah? No wonder Ollie hates you more than me; you're always so bloody impatient."

"'E 'ates us both, mate. That's why 'e went off and became one of them detective guys....."

The brothers have descended into arguing and random rambling again. Eleonore might have to get their attention again....

[Chevaleresse]

Saber & Nadia 

 

If Saber had a physical body at the moment, he would have frowned. Wouldn't it have made more sense to stay and repair the wound where they were? "I see. I'll stay nearby then. Wouldn't want to split up if either of us wasn't at peak condition."  His Master was. . . interesting, to say the least. He'd taken her for the femme fatale type, but this sort of worry and lack of foresight wasn't something you associated with that. "None of the other servants pose an immediate and pressing threat, and they have just as much idea of where we are as we do of them, so we can take our time here."

 

Archer & Merlin

 

"Wh- I panicked, okay? I expected you to try and kill me, not a suicide attempt. . ." What the hell kind of Servant had he summoned? Less than five minutes into the War and it was already taking a disastrous turn. And now she wanted to play a card game? He considered trying to figure out the purpose behind the card game and why it was relevant to whether she killed herself to apparently just screw him over for. . . reminding her of someone she knew in life? Instead, however, he just sighed. "Fine. We'll play Go Fish."

[Bfroger6]

Lancer

 

"But Master, we need to forge an unbreakable bond early on if we ever wish to stand up to the others! And I'm sure all the other Servants wanna get as close to their Masters as I do! ...not all of them have to worry about excess weight 'cause of the blood that was used to summon them though..." He put on a sad face, tying up his robes again. "Not to be mean to the cute little piggies, of course~" He added, reverting back to his chirpy behaviour, took a step back from Sophie and joined his hands behind his back.

 

"Hey Master, so what should we do~? I mean, except getting to know each other better! And tomorrow we can go look over the city! I've always loved big cities!" Klaren glued his face to the nearest window, gawking at the sight. "Aaaaaaaaaaa~ I can't wait!"

[Twinwolf]

Ciri - [Alexander/Ciri]

 

Ciri considered the question. "He seemed kinda jumpy, like he was expecting someone to leap out and attack him - ready to defend himself, I mean. Either he has some enemies or you in particular make him nervous. Didn't seem enthused to do you a favor, but sounded like he was trying to be amicable. Family associate, probably doesn't like you very much? He seemed afraid when you brought up this Jasper person. Not for his business - if he's like you said he is, he can lose six million, he can catch up on two week's lost research. You were making a rather unsubtle threat to him, and his family, which got him scared. I'm guessing your family has some sort of sway over him and his. Does that seem about right?" she says. The Caster-class Servant doesn't outwardly seem particularly perturbed, but inside Ciri is a tad uncomfortable. It seemed she'd be summoned by a part of the magical mafia or something. Well, it shouldn't matter in the end. 

[Strider]

[Archer & Kevin]

“D-Master, you know that's really creepy and odd, right? I've had some weird shit in my life too—the morons who thought they'd met an actual angel, the one psycho at the Pirate, Oh! And the Krupp Run—and I ain't being rude or anything, or saying I don't believe you, but that's unnerving. What if the grail pulls some trickery on us?” Darien's first new drone was done, so he began to work on another. It wasn't a terribly difficut task, though it was a bit time consuming, so he peered over into the back of the vehicle, to see what other stuff Kevin had prepared. “What have you got back here? Some gear or something? And...damn, I forgot to ask, what type of magics do you do?”

 

[Alexander/Ciri]

“Oh, very good, Caster. He was nervous, even from the beginning, but that had nothing to do with me. Any man like him would fear the uninvited guest. The invited one too. All men who gain power are afraid to lose it. No man who does not take caution not to lose it will ever retain it. He is a surprisingly prudent man.” Alexander patted his coat. “If I had tried to shoot him, he would have been ready. Don't worry though, I was not planning to, even if he hadn't been prepared. There would have been no reason.” He trailed off, and leaned forward to peer out the windshield at the starry night sky above. “Or maybe he is a foolish man. Look at the stars, so many, and so far away, each, perhaps, with a world of their own. In such a small and insignificant world as ours, who can be afford to let themselves be fettered by others? That is what Terrence did, though. Not me, I'm not inconveniencing him much. It is his son, Jasper who shackles him, and gives others power over him. I have sway over him, and so do others, and in time, Terrence will have to decide whether he wishes to pass his position to a man, who, while gifted, is crippled by his history.” Corwin, who appeared to have making a point of not reacting or listening, turned, and mentioned that they would be arriving soon. Alexander clasped his hands. “I suppose it's time to win the grail then. I do not know enough about the grail to answer a question I have, but perhaps you can. Will the grail supply two wishes? One each to the master and to the servant? Or just one?”

[Twinwolf]

Ciri - [Alexander/Ciri]

 

Ciri tries to think of the answer or a few moments - was that something the Grail had made her know, like so many other things? The answer seemed to be no, as she came up blank. She shakes her head. "No idea - the Grail didn't give me that information, it seems. I would assume yes - otherwise why would it summon Servants who could have wishes? - but there's no way to know for sure but to win the War."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

[Rider and Erica]

 

20 hours ago, Twinwolf said:

"It's a very impressive ship, to be sure." Erica says, getting to her feet and nodding to the skeleton. A bit disconcerting, sure, but not an abnormal summon. "So, I suppose what we do next is look for other Servants? I'm guessing that most will be looking for somewhere to set up, a home base they can defend - we have an advantage since our home base came with you."

 

"We have more than one girlie. Our's moves. The Iron Mango, a floatin' fortress. The ol' girl has lain waste to entire cities before. Landlubbers didn't know what to expect... they'd never been attacked from the sea before. A few nations abandoned building jewels on the coast for me crew to plunder. The seas belong to me. The Skies are mine as well." He said as he began to make for the helm. He pushed the skeleton out of his way with a mighty shove. His bones clattered against the deck of the ship and scattered everywhere. Erica could faintly hear the sigh of another crew member as he croaked out "So, who's picking up Sven this time?" and a faint reply "Ain't gon' be me. I've done it the past 2 weeks I'm free of that one."

Ignacio produced a long spyglass from his overcoat and threw it to one of the skeletal crew. "Get off your lazy bottoms and keep an eye out for anythin' that looks fishy. Any giant explosions or signs of battle. And report back if ya see anything." He then continued onto his helm. 

In the meantime, Cojiro had decided to find a new perch for himself. This time being Erica's shoulder. She felt his weight as he landed. Further she did feels his claws but noticed he was trying to put as little pressure on them as possible as to not cause any harm. It seemed Cojiro was rather intelligent for bird. He wrapped his tail around her neck as well, sort of like a scarf. It would feel silky and smooth, more akin to fabric then to feathers. "RAAAAAAAAAAWK! Pretty Lady. PRETTY!" would be the only thing he said.

[Nadia and Saber]

"I'm banking on that for now. I summoned you where I had for a reason. It was remote and further, far from any natural leylines. It wasn't a place of interest in any sense. Where we are headed though it'll be a lot harder to pinpoint us as well. Even if they can sense us they won't know who the master is. I've been around this town for... quite some time now. A few years maybe. I'd not know every person, but I'd certainly know any faces out of the ordinary. And, amongst all the people that are unaffiliated with the war, I don't think they'd be all that willing to make a move unless they had Assassin and could not alarm anyone, or Berserker and didn't have control over their servant. Not that we really know what our foes are... mildly disconcerning but I have you so I really have nothing to fear." Nadia explained her reasonng for her actons. She wasn't sure she truly needed to but she felt compelled. Either way, for now she continued into the cultural district.

***

Nadia looked down at the map she had, and then back up at the building was now standing in front of. It was quite clearly a bathhouse. "Ah, this is the place.~" she thought over the connection.

[Noir]

Orin and Debronee

 

Debronee followed Orin the roof of the building, surveying his surroundings keenly, before replying to Orin on his findings. Surprised to find a glimpse of what seemed to be a massive airship north from where they were, the Assassin quickly directed his Master to its direction. 

 

“I think the better idea is to go anywhere but there, unless you fancy a slugfest,” Debronee pointed towards the direction of the airship as he divulged the sentence, “Though it wouldn't hurt to check it out, maybe. Whoever's doing this knows not what subtlety is, I'd say, so it wouldn't be a surprise that others would head there as well. Though as for me, it is of little concern at best, however, as unless I fight, other Servant shouldn’t be able to sense me. An idiosyncratic trait of an Assassin, as it were.”

 

Eleonore and the Twins

 

Sacre bleu, Eleonore thought…she might be in for a less favourable start than she’d thought of these pair of Servants fought with each other more than together.

 

“Um, excusez moi?” Her voice escalated for moment, though as soon as she caught the twin’s attention, she returned to her timid tone, “Please stop fighting over…trivial things like this. I’m sorry if my questions bring back not-so-fond memories, but that doesn’t mean you have to squabble…”

Edited June 23, 2017 by Noir

[Bfroger6]

Orin

 

Orin hadn't noticed the ship at first. He was too focused thinking about what to do, because he kind of felt lost now. He'd never considered what kind of Servant he was gonna get, so Assassin came as a surprise. In actuality it fit him, except this very one Assassin wasn't being very nice to him for now, despite not saying anything of the sort.

 

He sighed and looked over at Debronee, only to follow the way he was pointint at. "Is that...a ship? In the sky?" He said in confusion, trying to focus on the sight. He took his shades back off to look. It wasn't close enough to discern the details, but it really looked like a ship. He thought of it for a moment and what Assassin said made sense. They could pretty much go there undetected if they were careful enough. "Ok, we can go if what you say is true." He said. "We'll remain hidden and see if we can find out who the others are." He pulled his sleeve over the Seals on his right hand. "I'll go pick something up. You can find a vehicle in the meantime and break into it. Take a car, ok? I don't have one."

[ElfCollaborator]

Sophie - [Lancer and Sophie]

"....now that you mention it, trying to find a safer place to hide is a good idea, if we're fighting the kinda war where people die and all. Alright.....so.....what am I supposed to do, exactly? I'm not precisely a....magus, I'll be honest."

 

 

Nick and Jack Sloane - [Berserkers and Eleonore]

Nick and Jack shoot Eleonore strange looks.

"Luv, we're brothers! We argue. It's wot brothers do, innit?"

"You need to watch more telly if you think THIS is arguing, luv. Or get out more."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

[Nadia and Saber]

 

It took awhile to get situated, but eventually Nadia managed to secure herself a private room. The public bath wouldn't be suited to her purposes as she'd need to focus on the wound on her hand. The extra people would make it just too difficult. Saber was awfully quiet. Perhaps he really was focusing on the task at hand, but she wondered. She had to admit, she missed when he wasn't talking. Ever if it wasn't even that long ago, it still felt like an eternity that he hadn't spoken. Nadia, never really felt this before with another person before... she wondered what it was... what it meant, as she reached the dressing room.

She started removing the layers of her suit bit by bit, starting by slipping off the jacket, as well as her gloves. She looked at the wound on her right hand, a crimson line that stretched across her palm. Nothing to a mage who was skilled at healing magecrafts. She couldn't help but feel a bit unaccomplished as a mage not able to easily heal what was probably a minor wound. However, she knew where her strengths lay. Causing wounds of much greater magnitude. She thought about all the ones she'd caused, ones she was forced to just to survive. Her magic the product of need more than because it was the path she truly wished to walk. Did that make her something lesser? That her craft was designed on a need to survive, rather than a want to further the art of magecraft? She didn't really know the answer to that. The more she undressed the more insecure she felt. She remembered Saber was there and it made her feel a strange mixture of fright, and excitement. She was afraid of what he might think, but she also wanted to know as well.

"Saber." she opened up. She tried to have as much confidence as she could muster, and to her credit she did pretty well but the link made it impossible to hide everything. "Hopefully this isn't too distracting for you to continue with your watch. And, I hope you don't mind the scars too much." her voice didn't convey the amount of nerves that sprung forth at the prospect of actually fully removing her clothes when someone could see the scars she had accrued. But, she didn't really have the choice in this case. She took a deep breathe, and let her clothes drop to the floor. They didn't really sit in any one place in particular. The remains of cuts and bruises were all about her body. They littered her form, slightly shining in the light due to the scar tissue. The covered her back and a lot of her chest. Some still on her legs. 

Something else also became visible now. In between her shoulder blades, just above the small of her back, resided her command seals. A motif of a heraldic dragon spitting fire. It's wings spread wide. The two wings made up their own seal, the dragon's head and body, the final seal. She stood there, displaying herself and everything about her that she could now no longer hide from him. She asked one question, the shakiness and nerves... surprisingly entirely gone, even over the telepathic link. "So, Saber... what do you think?"

[Strider]

[Alexander/Ciri]

They were nearing their destination, it seemed, as the car's general speed was decreasing, with more turns. If Ciri was paying much attention, she might notice that certain buildings had appeared more than once. Corwin did not seem concerned though, and continued to drive, glancing to the sides every so often, searching for something.

Alexander turned back to the girl sitting in the back seat. “The Grail didn't say? That is unsettling. If the time comes, and there is only one wish, you may have it. My greatest wish would be facilitated by the Grail, but with sufficient time and effort could be completed without it. The Grail, for me, is a shortcut. What it can grant, I will achieve by whatever means.” Corwin flicked on the turn signal, and pulled into a small parking lot, next to a large, and rather shabby warehouse.

“It would be wise to check I suppose, a few more things which the Grail might have told you? Do you know where it might appear? Do you have any knowledge of the number of servants summoned? And do you—It seems that we're here.”

[Twinwolf]

Ciri - [Alexander/Ciri]

 

Ciri shook her head. "It doesn't tell us most things. I would assume that it would need a place with a lot of mana to manifest. It's also reasonable to assume that there is at least one Servant of each class. Neither of these can be confirmed right now, though." Ciri said. It was rather... disturbing? Annoying? That the Grail would not give them sufficient information on so many basic things. As they pulled into the parking lot, Ciri took a deep breath, feeling for the mana... yes, she felt the leylines connecting here... "This will be perfect - plenty of space for a large Territory and the mana to sustain it and myself. You're sure there's no night guards or something? I would hate for someone to get consumed by the Territory's creation." 

 

Figuring she may need to explain something, she continues. "It'll take a few hours to start, and then quite a bit longer to complete it. It'll be much, much faster though, since we're on a leyline. I need to have a central room in there, a 'safe room' so to speak, that's the grounding point of the whole Territory. If we're going to be needing anything from the warehouse we should put it in there, and bring the things from the car before I start... oh, and the driver probably should stay away once I start, or he might get caught up in it."

 

Erica - [Rider and Erica]

 

Erica nodded. "Yeah... this is a very powerful Noble Phantasm. I honestly can't see how another Servant would deal with this unless they could somehow teleport onto the deck itself." she says, smiling - she had certainly summoned a powerful Servant. While the bird that had landed on her shoulder had an irritating voice it was certainly a beautiful creature - she gently stroked it as she followed Ignacio to the helm of the ship, stepping over the scattered bones of that skeleton. "The other Masters and Servants will be preparing for the War ahead... let's go see if we can start it early for them, shall we?' she suggests. 

Edited June 25, 2017 by Twinwolf

[Chevaleresse]

Saber & Nadia

 

"Hopefully not, though I gotta say it's a little distracting." The response came before she actually started to undress. It was teasing, playful in tone, as much as a telepathic message could have a tone. His tone faded, however, as she undressed. Of course, he took his peek; it's not as if she could actually know whether he was, and she hadn't exactly been repulsed by his advances thus far. He sobered slightly, however, as he took in what he saw. She wasn't an ugly woman, to say the least, but the amount of scars was far more concerning to him than the simple ogling he had planned on doing. It didn't make the woman less attractive, but one didn't take this many scars without suffering some hardships in their life. "What do I think? You're a beautiful woman, of course. . . but I have to wonder how you acquired so many wounds. I've seen retired soldiers with fewer scars." He sounded almost angry for a moment, though his tone faded back to quiet for his next statement. "Of course, if you don't want to speak of it, I won't press the issue."

[Shamitako]

Merlin

 

Merlin grinned and pulled out the deck of cards from their holster on her shoulder, she then handed them to her master. He would feel a strange tingling from the cards when he took them. "You'll want to shuffle." She said mischievously. Merlin was, of course, quite confident she would win this. After all, the only one to ever beat her at Go Fish was- Wait, crap, everything else is the same. What if he manages to win as well? This could prove to be a problem, but at this point Merlin was committed. At the very least, this game would be fun.

 

Kevin

 

"I don't exactly trust the Grail either, it seems too good to be true." Kevin said, "But what else can I do? I don't exactly have anywhere else to go about this." Kevin looked out the window as he drove along, passing by a rather grand-looking church. Even someone as poorly versed in magic as he was could detect the powerful defenses set up there. "And you're gonna have to bear with me, because I'm really garbage at magic." He confessed, "I can only do super, super simple magic blasts and barriers. They're not going to be of much use against an even slightly knowledgeable master, let alone a servant. Shiori will help with that, but she's not entirely reliable in a fight. You'll understand when we meet her."

[Noir]

Orin and Debronee

 

Seemingly satisfied with his Master's decision -- though mildly inconvenienced that his Master lacked his own vehicle -- Debronee set out to search for a suitable car, without rousing too much suspicion. Roaming the district from where he was first summoned, Debronee also tried to familiarize himself with these surroundings, even if he had the presumption that his Master didn't seem like the type to stay in one place for long, if was to resort to plunder to accomplish simple transport in this war. Regardless, after a few minutes of scavenging -- with Debronee realizing the district was rather poor and impoverished -- the Assassin found a car, illuminated under the light of a flickering road lamp in the middle of the street. Judging from the dead silence, it was likely that no one was there.

 

I've found one, Debronee telepathically conveyed these words to Orin, Go east from where you are take the road winding right -- then turn left into the alleyway. A car under a lamp will be there. I'll come over to guide you along the way. 

 

Eleonore and the Twins

 

"..."

 

Eleonore fell silent at the twin's rebuttal, not knowing if she was more intimidated or irritated. Sighing, she steeled herself and addressed the twins yet again.

 

"From how I've interacted with people, two people don't break into arguments when a person of authority asks them a question," Eleonore began, "But...please. I'd really rather not the both of you get into arguments whenever I do something as simple as ask a question...what if this happens when we find a Servant, hmm? Putting this aside, I think it's best if we made sure we're not surrounded or anything. Do any of you have the ability to check if any hostile forces are nearby?"

[Strider]

[Archer & Kevin]

Darien noted the church as they approached, and the wards erected around it. ”Why're there so many wards on that place? They got some cult there, or what?” Darien scowled a bit when Kevin's lack of magical proficiency was announced. “I'm the Servant. Don't worry too much about that. S'long as you can give the orders and make the arrangements, I'll do what I can, and try to keep your weakness in mind.” Darien grunted, then returned to his work. He supposed that it was good that the boy had decent mana capacity, even if he was pretty unskilled at using it. . . “So, kid, did you just start training or something, or what? You've got a good amount of mana, far as I can tell, so I'm thinking you just haven't trained much yet?”

 

[Alexander/Ciri]

“I see. You understand that Corwin?” Corwin nodded, restarted the car, and pulled out to drive around to one of the large sliding warehouse doors. When the arrived, he left the car idling while he hopped out to open the door. As the car idled, Alexander answered her earlier query about a possible guard. “Don't worry about that. The warehouse and laboratory are both warded against intruders usually, and should there be a guard or watchman, they would be a poor one if they did not come running when when we open the door.” As if on cue, there was a rumbling as the warehouse doors shuddered open. “The laboratory will be our safe room, I suppose. Everything else stored in this warehouse, if there is anything, will have to be lost. I'm not going to the trouble of stuffing the lab with nonessential items simply to preserve a hundredth of what might be contained here.” Corwin reentered the car, and brought it inside. The warehouse was quite dark, even with the beams of the headlights. It turned out to be mostly empty. To the left of where they had entered, was a stack of large shipping containers, with a few more spread about the acres of space inside the building. However, for a building meant to contain thousands of containers of this size, they were somewhat lucky. From the ceiling hung a set of catwalks, with large ropes, and machinery, perhaps meant to work in tandem with vehicles that appeared not to be present. The car soon arrived at a small building set in the middle of the warehouse, with a steel door. “Excuse me a moment.” Alexander exited the car, and walked up to the building. After a few seconds of muttering with the occasional orange glow, the door swung open. No sirens sounded, and Alexander was not vaporized. Good. He flicked on the lights, then signalled to Corwin, who turned off the engine, and headed around to the trunk to begin to unload.

Alexander too began to unload, talking to Ciri as he did so. “Corwin will be leaving of course. Even if what you said wasn't true, I wouldn't be keeping someone like him around for the more dangerous parts of the war. He has little use in that field. We will have a few hours during which we'll be exposed, correct? Do I need to be in the 'safe room' during that time? And can you do anything else while creating your territory, if another servant were to attack?” Alex tossed a sleeping bag into the lab. In practice, the lab was in fact four rooms. The first was a small entrance room, with a desk and little else in it. Perhaps for searches and signing in? The next room was the main area of the lab, with benches, flasks, alchemical symbols in one fenced off corner, and numerous other items sitting in cabinets in this room. The next room was a spartan office. All the paperwork was locked up in cabinets, and it was obvious to Alexander that his privileges in the lab had not been extended to this information. The final room was a bathroom. But, this brought up an important question: “Caster, tell me,” Alex said, as Corwin carefully set down what appeared to be some food supplies, “can you keep this whole lab building-inside-a-building as your safe room? Because this area is effectively four rooms, but I don't see how the arrangement of walls should affect your territory too much, so long as the safe room is still entirely enclosed.”

[Twinwolf]

Ciri - [Alexander/Ciri]

 

Ciri, rather than just do nothing, also helps to unload the supplies. This is quite helpful, seeing that even as a Caster she is far stronger than any human. "It'll take a couple hours to create the safe room. While powerful mages can resist being consumed by the Territory, i recommend you stay with me, just in case. I hope you've brought a book. I can't do anything while making the Territory, but I can interrupt the process quite easily if it's needed, and resume at a later point. Even though it takes a while for the Territory to be completed, I can still use it in between starting and finishing, although it'll be weaker." she says. Having brought in most of the supplies, she began to set up in the main area of the lab, sitting in a meditative position with her hands on the ground, eyes closed. "I don't think it can all be my safe room, but I can make sure that what's within it is not destroyed as well, with the tradeoff of not really being able to manipulate those sections. Yes, you'll have a bathroom. Please tell me when I can start the process." She takes a deep breath, and takes the Book out of seemingly nowhere, placing it on her lap. She wasn't entirely sure she needed it for this part... but she felt it helped. Alexander, if he looked, could feel... something, from the Book. Similar to what he could feel from Caster, but... darker, almost sinister. 

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

[Rider and Erica.]

"HA! Now yer speakin' me language girlie.~ I do like a preemptive strike. Time for a baptism in gunpowder. HAHAHAHA!" He shouted. Of course, he was still actually waiting for the reports from his men before he got moving if they saw anything.
 

It was clear Cojiro enjoyed being touched as he seemingly purred like a cat in response. It sounded exactly like it in fact. Apparently Cojiro had the ability to truly mimic sounds. "Cojiro help!" he said, "Cojiro help pretty lady! RAAAWK" eventually the bird wanted to assist her in some way, but just kept quietly parroting the word help over and over again and didn't give her much of an indication of how. Perhaps Erica could figure out what he wanted? Maybe he'd make a useful asset.

Suddenly a skeleton burst up the stairs. "SIR!" he said saluting. He stood at attention waiting for Ignacio's reply. 

"Well... don't just stand there you Idjit... SPIT IT OUT!!! Oh.. wait that be a mite difficult seeing as you have no means of saliva production. Regardless, don't hold your tongu... man. Talking to the undead is super awkward. Look, just tell me what you're here for already... it ain't that hard a concept to grasp."

"Aye Aye sir. We've got a report. We've seen some figures randomly standing on a roof sir. They looked suspicious sir."

"Aye, I cannae believe any idjit would stand on a roof randomly for no reason. It must be something. Show me!"

 

The crewman lead Ignacio to the starboard side of the ship and handed the large telescope to Ignacio. He guided to looking glass for the captain to see what they had found. He managed to catch a glimpse of the two before they left the roof, or at least one of them did. "Hmmm, Silver hair' mask, entirely black garb, that's definitely the spitting image of an edgy protagonist from a shitty shonen anime..." he handed the spyglass back to the skeletal crewman. "Looks like we've found a target boys. No way someone dressed like that ain't a servant. No way to truly tell from here, but my sense be tinglin'. Keep an eye on 'em. Once we get a clear shot... we unleash HELL!"

The skeletons all cheered. They'd been waiting to get the great beast broiling and ready for war. Erica would feel the ship moving away from the building now as they went to move up to get better angles of fire for when their quarry moved into some semblance of range. The Crew was taking every opportunity to keep tabs on the positions of the pair. They anticpatied the order to fire.

[Nadia and Saber]

 

"It is something I've not really talked to anyone about to be honest. No one but me has really seen these scars with their own eyes." she said making her way to the bath. She had said it aloud, not really noticing that she had. The floor was rather cold on the soles of her feet but she didn't mind it too much, she'd be in warm bliss before too long. She didn't really speak again until she sunk into that heat. She already felt like the magic she was using to stitch the wound on her palm working better. "But, I suppose it's different with you Saber. You're a part of me now... My body is as much yours as yours is mine. So I perhaps shouldn't hide it's secrets. You can already see them, you just can't read the language of scars."

She took a deep breath, one part relief as the hot water felt wonderful on her skin, one part because she could feel any pain her body felt melt away... but lastly to expel any nerves she had left. This wasn't an easy story to tell... her life wasn't exactly a great one. "I'm not sure how it was for you... but being mage in this world... isn't easy. Especially when you come from a family that is struggling to remain relevant in the magic world at large. My family once was powerful... they once held a lot of sway, but over time it waned. My father's generation was the first to really feel the sting... the 8th. He couldn't except it though, and instead devised a plan to conduct research he believed would put him back into the limelight. I was the second born onto the family that had the potential for magecraft. Normally, I'd probably just be forgotten. A family only truly needed one to carry on it's legacy. However... my father had other plans."

 

She wondered if it was really safe to continue... but she'd already come this far. There wasn't really a point of turning back now. "Somehow... my father had acquired the blood of a dragon. His research involved infusing the blood of dragonkin with a mage to see if it increases the power of their magic circuits, or would reinforce them. He couldn't ever find a willing participant. So he forced it on me. It... burned. It felt like he'd flooded my veins with acid. I... didn't feel anything but immense pain for days. I couldn't stand it anymore... so I cut of much of it out of me as I could. I... can still feel it every now and then. Burning in the center of my heart as it passes through..."

[Chevaleresse]

Archer & James

 

I will never understand this woman. She'd been ready to kill herself, and now she was excited at the prospect of a card game? He reached for the cards, stopping for a brief moment when he felt that tingling. "You know, doesn't cheating at the game kind of defeat the point?" He wasn't sure if that's what Merlin was doing, but generally playing cards weren't supposed to tingle. Regardless, he sighed and started to shuffle the cards, trying to remember what the rules to the game were - the last time he'd played it had been elementary school. 

 

Saber & Nadia

 

"Dragon blood, huh. . .?" He supposed it made sense. Dragons were incredibly powerful, as were any beings that came from their stock. He was only quarter dragon, and was still stronger in life than any mortal human could have ever hoped to be, as well as being magically powerful without much effort at all. But forcing that on someone? And your own daughter, no less? "The mages of this era are. . . something else. For his sake, I hope I never meet your father." He stopped sending over the link momentarily, but Nadia still received an impression of activity; Masaru was scouring his mind for something. An old memory, of his father and a certain exercise he'd done. "Mine was a half dragon. He had some sort of ritual he used, to keep both sides of himself in harmony. I'll try to remember it; he taught it to me, once, but I never needed it."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

[Nadia and Saber]

 

"Well..." Nadia said shifting in the water. She placed her leg over the other, moving to be more comfortable. She once more was unsure just how forward she should be with this servant... this... person. But, she pushed them down again. "You'll never have to meet him Masaru." his name slipped out instead of Saber. Nadia didn't really seem aware that she had done that.

"He's no longer in the land of the living. I showed him the door. I... did it to save myself from that man. He'd never stop until he claimed his research. His thirst for power... his ambition knew no bounds. But... I mostly did it to get revenge. Not for myself really... but for my Uncle. He was the one that allowed me to break free... to get away from that accursed place."

Nadia however, probably didn't want to continue on this line of conversation given that she quickly changed the subject back onto what Saber had mentioned earlier. "Perhaps it would help. I don't know if I'm truly part dragon from the process, but my blood... does still feel different at times. What was your life like...? I hope it was something happier than mine." she inquired, curious as to what he'd answer.