"Are you sure you don't want anything?"
Madoka shakes her head in response to your question. "You already bought me those arrows, Homura-chan," she says, standing back while you pay for the suit, shirt, and tie Madoka selected for you. "I'd hate to ask you to buy anything else for me."
Your purchase comes out to a little under 30,000¥, making it cheaper than the frilly Gothic dress by about 15,000¥. Did you exactly
need to buy a suit and tie? No, but you know Madoka will enjoy seeing you in it, so you're more than happy to pay out if it means making her happy. With the money you've saved choosing to buy the suit over the dress, an idea occurs to you, and as you and Madoka prepare to depart you take a slight detour over to the jewellery counter.
"Homura-chan, really, you don't have to get anything else," Madoka says, as if she didn't say how good you'd look in those amethyst earrings just a few minutes ago. "If you spent all your money on things I said you'd look good in, you'd be broke. Come on, Homura-chan."
"Excuse me, miss, could I please see the price on those earrings?" you ask the woman at the counter, pointing to a set of amethyst studs set in silver.
Probably a less expensive metal polished to look silver, if you had to take a guess. They aren't the exact pair Madoka showed you, but they're close enough to give you an idea of what it might cost. The woman nods, reaching into the display case to make the price tag more visible.
16,900¥, not as expensive as you thought they would be. You won't buy them, not until you know how quickly your body would heal a set of pierced ears, but you will keep them in mind for when you do have that information. "Thank you," you say to the woman, before relenting to Madoka's concerns for your wallet and leaving.
"Were they too expensive?" Madoka asks. "Or did you decide you don't want to get your ears pierced?"
"Neither, actually," you reply. "The price was fair for their quality, and it's not like I haven't suffered worse injuries than a pinprick to my earlobes." You shake your head, adding "No, the real reason I didn't buy them is just because I don't know whether it would be worth it."
"What do you mean, worth it? Like, you don't know when you'd wear them? Is that what you mean?"
"Not quite like that. See, bodies like
mine have a fairly well-tuned ability to heal from injuries. Broken bones, missing limbs, things like that. So the truth is, if I got my ears pierced, I don't know whether my body would let me keep them that way, or if it would heal before I have the chance to enjoy how I look in my new earrings." You also aren't sure, even after finding out that information, if getting your ears pierced is something you'd want to do; it's just not something worth dwelling on until you know more. "That's why I didn't get them."
The meeting hour is fast approaching, but there's still a little time for you to enjoy with Madoka. Returning home to drop off your recent purchases, you decide to take a page out of your sister's book and spend your remaining time with Madoka by kissing her; well, you aren't
quite taking a page out of your sister's book, because kissing is
all you and Madoka do. Nothing else. Nothing your parents wouldn't approve of.
"Do you really have to go?" Madoka asks as you and she part lips for the last time. "I wish you didn't have to."
"So do I," you say. "But it's not like I have a choice. It would be rude of me to keep the others waiting." Reluctantly, you and Madoka must part ways for the night. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Right. See you tomorrow, Homura-chan."
Once again, your worries are ill-placed, as the last to arrive at the Sakura Church are Oriko and Kirika. Their hands are entwined as they enter the church, and under her breath you can hear Kirika humming a piece by Wagner. "It could use some fixing up," she says as she ceases her humming. "But wouldn't it be great to get married in a big fancy church like this?"
Oriko nods, saying "Yes, it would," as the pair thankfully forgo stopping to kiss at what remains of the altar. "Ah, Caren-san, it's good to see you." Oriko hugs her cousin, who after some unnecessarily dramatic eye-rolling returns Oriko's hug. "I'm glad you'll be joining us from now on."
"I'd be even gladder about this whole arrangement if you girls could go any length of time without getting yourselves into trouble," Caren replies, her words failing to elicit a rise out of Oriko.
"I'm grateful you could all make it tonight," you say as your eyes scan the crowd that has gathered in the remains of the Sakura Church. Tomoe-san, Kyouko, Oriko, Kirika, Hitomi, Nurse Ortensia, and Archer. You can feel the presence of several other servants, but only Archer is visible among whoever has come tonight. "I won't waste time by making a big speech of this, so let's just get started."
After laying her fragment of wheel on the ground in front of her, Nurse Ortensia takes up a position beside Hitomi, who asks "Um, what should I be doing?"
"Just follow my lead, and you probably won't wind up dead," Nurse Ortensia says, earning her a horrified stare from Hitomi. A disapproving glare from Oriko forces her to reconsider her words, and she reluctantly adds "Relax. The worst that happens is you aren't able to summon a servant and Akemi has to find someone else. You'll be fine."
"Right." Hitomi takes a deep breath, saying "Whenever you're ready, Nurse Ortensia."
With her hand outstretched, Nurse Ortensia leads with the opening lines of a familiar chant,
"Fill; fill; fill; fill; fill. Repeat five times, but when each is filled, destroy it," which Hitomi repeats after her. The basement falls silent but for their chanting, as a light in the darkness builds in intensity around their bodies.
"Heed my words; my will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call, and obey my will and reason, then answer my summoning!"
"I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world. That I shall defeat all evil in the world."
As the pair chant, you see the familiar crimson lines burning themselves into the flesh of Hitomi's hand. Her Command Seals take the form of three triangles, two lain on top of each other in the shape of an hourglass, with the third set into the bottom triangle. You see no Command Seals forming on the back of Nurse Ortensia's hand; that isn't the only unusual thing you notice about her summoning. Under her breath, you hear Nurse Ortensia uttering some additional lines, lines that are unfamiliar to you and which Hitomi does not hear or repeat. You wonder what their purpose could be.
"Seventh heaven clad in the great words of power, come forth from the circle of binding, guardian of scales!"
The light which had been building around Hitomi and Nurse Ortensia as they chanted over their summoning culminates
in a blinding flash, before subsiding and revealing the forms of their servants.
Standing before Hitomi is a tall man with a narrow, pointed jaw and a European face. His hair is dark, short and untamed, and his eyes burn brightly like embers. His clothes are form-fitting and a dark teal in colour, and the armour he wears over his clothes is a polished dark blue, a colour reminiscent of a beetle's shell. In each of his hands he holds a sword, one a brilliant gold and the other a burning crimson.
Hitomi summons the Saber servant, then. That means Nurse Ortensia's servant is Assassin.
The woman standing before Nurse Ortensia greatly betrays your expectations for what an Assassin servant should be. Eschewing the skintight leotard of the Hassan, she wears a long, flowing robe dyed in several shades of purple, accentuated by silver trim and a mane of black feathers wreathing her shoulders. Her hair is long and coloured a dark reddish-purple, and her eyes, set with anger on a pale European face, are the same shade of red as the ruby clasp at her collar.
The Saber servant kneels before Hitomi, saying with a calm voice "I am servant Saber. I look forward to serving you with honour and distinction, my master;" but Assassin is nowhere near as deferent towards Nurse Ortensia. She steps forward, forming a knurled wand in her hands –
Are you sure she's an Assassin? – which she points at Nurse Ortensia, pressing its tip deep enough into the skin of her throat as to leave a mark.
"What did you do to me?" Assassin snarls, prompting an immediate response from Oriko, one which is only restrained when Lancer materialises to hold back her master. "Why did you summon me into this
worthless class vessel?"
"It's not like I had much of a choice," Nurse Ortensia replies, her voice belying the danger of the situation. "The Rider and Caster classes were both occupied, so I had to make some
adjustments to the summoning ritual in order to make you fit into what was available."
Wait, you can do that? Modify a servant's class summon to make them appear in a class they normally wouldn't? "Now, we can do this one of two ways. You can either put that wand down yourself-" Nurse Ortensia raises her right arm, pulling back the sleeve to reveal a mess of jagged crimson signs, the sight of which causes Oriko to bite her lip. "-or I can
make you put it down. Which do you prefer?"
"I will not comply with the demands of a common wench."
"The hard way it is, then." Nurse Ortensia sighs, saying "Assassin, by my Command Seal, I order you to put down your weapon and never threaten me again."
Against the power of a Command Seal, Assassin has no choice but to obey. She relents, and Nurse Ortensia is threatened by her no longer. "You shame me, wench," Assassin says, never once taking her hate-filled eyes off Nurse Ortensia. "You had better make this summoning worth my while, or I shall find ways to make you regret your actions that do not involve raising a weapon to you."
It looks like Assassin has a bit of an attitude problem. How should you handle her?
[ ] Kill her; you can summon a better Assassin off her corpse
[ ] Leave her be; Nurse Ortensia must have summoned her for a reason
[ ] Check her parameters before doing anything; make your decision based on what you see
[ ] Other (write-in)
Are you planning on going out to look for a fight tonight?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
[ ] See what Oriko or Caster can see
[ ] Team meeting before deciding on a course of action
[ ] Other (write-in)
