[X] Plan What Happens To Kyuubey Hunting, Now?
"Now, maybe you'll finally tell us your name?"
"Oh; that's easy!" Saber takes a bite of her monstrous chocolate dessert burger, leaving all in attendance waiting on her to finish chewing, swallowing, before she finishes her thought with "Shinmen Musashi, at your service!"
It's a name that just about every Japanese has heard before, the name of the country's most famous swordsman. Key word being swordsman, not woman. Seven pairs of eyes stare at Saber, incredulous to her claim every one of them. "... I thought Miyamoto Musashi was a guy?"
"Nope! I'm one-hundred per cent me! Look-" Saber peels back the long back on the right side of her head, revealing a dark scar hidden underneath. "That's where some peasant beaned me with a rock when I tried to fight in the Shimabara Rebellion. Just because I'm one-hundred per cent woman doesn't mean I'm not also Shinmen Musashi."
"Then how do you explain... Well, just about everything that's ever been written about you? Your own book included? What about the self-portrait that depicts you as a man?"
"I've got explanations for all of that," Saber says, shrugging off your questions as easily as a duck might shrug off water. "First, that so-called 'self' portrait? That was never of me. That was actually my uncle, who trained me from when I was seven. I was getting on in years when I painted that, and it was getting harder and harder for me to remember what he looked like, so I tried to paint him as best as I could so I'd always remember him." Saber shrugs, taking another bite of her chocolate 'burger'. "I guess everyone else just kind of went with it at that point, since it was easier for them to accept that a man had done what I did back in those days."
"Was that also why you wrote your book as though you were a man?"
"Funny; I don't remember writing myself as a man. Then again, I don't actually recall ever getting a chance to read the published work, so maybe that was something that got changed without me knowing about it? It'd certainly fit the pattern."
"What about Sasaki Kojirou?" Archer asks. "I've had the chance to speak with him, on occasion, and he never mentioned anything about you being a woman. Was he also lying?"
"Nah, I just beaned him so fast I don't think he ever had time to figure out I was a girl." Saber requires a moment to compose herself as the memory of her historic duel causes her to chuckle. "And once it was over, I left in such a hurry that none of his followers had time to figure it out either."
Archer crosses his arms over his chest, lips pursed as he contemplates the Saber who calls herself Shinmen Musashi. To him, this whole situation must seem strangely familiar to that of the female King Arthur he knew from his own War. "Alright, so you've at least got explanations for all this, but there's still one thing I'm a little iffy on- Your birth name was Bennosuke; that's not really the name you give to a little girl, so what's the story there?"
Saber's near-constant mirth breaks at Archer's mention of her birth name, and she says "If you know Shinmen Musashi's birth name, then you must also know that 'he' had three elder siblings, two sisters and a brother." Archer nods. "Truth is, I was the older sister. Bennosuke died of an illness just before our uncle was set to teach him how to use a sword, so I chose to study in his stead. I used his name to conceal the fact that I was a girl from people until I had garnered enough notoriety to change it."
"If I hadn't done that, if I had kept my old name, nobody would have taken me seriously. Arima Kihei would have rejected my challenge to him if he had seen the name of a girl written on his invitation. My breasts hadn't come in yet, or else he would have figured out I was a girl when I went out to fight him and refused to fight me. I love the sword, and I love the legacy I've carved for myself using the sword, but don't think for one second that I would have been able to do any of that if I had gone around living as a woman in those days."
"I understand," Archer says, nodding for Saber. "I once knew another servant, another Saber actually, who was forced to hide the fact that they were a woman from the world, because they knew the world wouldn't accept a woman doing what she had to."
Archer's confirmation of your earlier thought cinches it; you'll accept that this Saber is the woman she claims herself to be, even if that woman is one known as a man to the rest of the world. "Well, now that we've gotten our explanations out of the way, there's something we need to address going forward as a team." You look to Nagatsuki Miyuki, then back to the rest of your team, and say "We've recently brought a new team member into our ranks, and we have two weeks to get her and Saber up to snuff. But, considering Mitakihara's lack of pressing threats for us to fight, how are we supposed to get our newest members integrated?"
"Well, it's not as though we did nothing but fight witches when we were trying to integrate Mikuni-san and Kure-san," Tomoe-san says. "There's no reason we can't come up with some combat training exercises to put them through."
Mikuni Oriko nods, adding to what Tomoe-san said with "You could use your ribbons to make duplicates of some of the more threatening witches we've fought; and I'm sure our servants wouldn't mind sparring with Saber."
"And I've always wanted to beat Miyuki up for the way she treated Oriko back theni!" Kure Kirika exclaims, before the sour looks being directed at her by both Mikuni Oriko and Nagatsuki Miyuki cause her to back down. "I mean... I'd be willing to spar with her, to get her used to the way puella magi fight..."
"... What?" Kyouko asks. "I ain't got nothing ta add to what yer all saying. If Crazy wants ta kick her ass, then I guess I'd be down fer flexing my skills on the newbie as well."
All the ideas presented are adequate, though you're wary of letting Kure Kirika spar with Nagatsuki Miyuki just yet. "Perhaps it would be easier to figure out how to integrate her if we know what she's able to do in combat." You turn to Nagatsuki Miyuki, and ask her "If our newest member would be willing to tell us what she's capable of."
"It might be easier if I show you," Nagatsuki Miyuki says. "Except... I think I'll need a bit of space to do a proper demonstration."
"That's fine, Nagatsuki-san, we can use my garden if you need space to demonstrate your abilities." Mikuni Oriko leads the team out to her garden; the last time you were out here, it was back when Kure Kirika had just regained the use of her legs, and you wanted to make sure she was good to fight. "I don't mind if the flowers get a bit ruined. I've been meaning to redecorate for awhile now."
Nagatsuki Miyuki nods, and in a flash her clothes are replaced with her battle costume. In her left hand she holds a dueling saber, and in her right hand an ornate, gold-filigreed target pistol. "The sword's just a regular sword," she says, swishing the blade about int he air a few times. "I'm in the fencing club at school, so I guess it was something I wanted because I knew how to use it. The pistol's really where the magic is; stand back."
Nagatsuki Miyuki takes aim at a patch of flowers as the pistol flashes red. She pulls the trigger, and an ornate magic circle appears in the air at the end of the barrel, from which erupts a column of fire. She repeats the process, with the pistol flashing blue this time, before a torrent of ice is expelled. A third time, and the pistol flashes green as arcs of lightning are thrown to all corners of the garden. Finally, Nagatsuki Miyuki pulls the trigger a fourth time. The pistol flashes gold, but this time nothing happens. "Wait for it..." she says; and seconds later, spires of dirt burst from the ground like earthbound rockets. Nagatsuki Miyuki smiles, twirling the pistol on her trigger finger like a stereotypical American cowboy, before allowing her weapons to vanish. "That's about it, really. It'd be useful in combat, except I guess there's not much for us to be fighting for the next couple of weeks."
"Do your elemental attacks always come in the same pattern, or can you change them at will?"
"I can control which one I use."
[ ] What are your thoughts regarding Nagatsuki Miyuki's usefulness in combat?
[ ] What are your thoughts regarding how to integrate Nagatsuki Miyuki into the team?
Kure Kirika pouts as she watches Nagatsuki Miyuki's display, and as soon as her eyes meet yours she says "Hey! Speaking of guns, what about the one Archer got for me? You get that fixed yet? You're still gonna show me how to shoot it and stuff, right?"
You nod your head, but brush aside Kure Kirika's question as you approach Mikuni Oriko. You'll deal with your impatient big sis later; right now, there are more important matters to attend to. "How are you and Lancer coming along on that anti-Incubator ward?"
"It's coming along. Give us until Friday, I'd say, and we should be finished by then. If I'm right, I can give it to Kirika on Saturday morning and have her deliver it to you at school. Or, if you're not going to be busy that night, I can bring it with me if we'll be having a team meeting that night."
"I'll likely be having dinner with Madoka's family on Friday night," you say. "However, Archer and I are positive that 'dinner' is really an attempt by Kaname Junko to set Archer and Kure Minako up. Kure Kirika will likely be there as well, so if you're finished before dinner on Friday, give it to her and have her bring it to me at dinner."
Mikuni Oriko nods, saying "Yes, I think we can make that work."
The team files back into Mikuni Oriko's mansion as Nagatsuki Miyuki's demonstration concludes, but you linger behind, catching "Saber," as she attempts to re-enter the residence. "There's something I need to talk to you about."
"Sure, what's up?"
"It's about your master, actually- It's probably not my place to be telling you this, but Nagatsuki Miyuki is a recovering alcoholic." And you hope she'll talk to Saber about her problems at some point. "Given what I said to you earlier about how our emotional states are tied directly to the accumulation of Grief in our Soul Gems, I shouldn't have to explain why drinking one's self to sleep would be fatal to a puella magi. For your master's sake, I'd ask you to be mindful of your own drinking in her presence."
"I mean sure, I'll try to be mindful of my drinking around her, but you know how it was back in my time- On the road, good water might be hard to come by; not so hard with good alcohol. Then again..." Saber pauses, before resuming with "I don't even know where I'd go to get a drink around here; and even if I did, it's not like I've got any money to buy any with. I guess I could always offer my body for a few drinks, but then..."
At those words, Saber had lost you. You turn your head away from the pink-haired swordswoman, only to be greeted by the sight of MIkuni Oriko and Kure Kirika kissing in the moonlight. You see Mikuni Oriko and Kure Kirika kissing, just as they are now, but their heads have been superimposed atop the bodies of the two women Assassin showed you in the middle of their... Activity. The ease with which Kure Kirika could say the things she said to you; her complete willingness to disregard societal norms to make out with her girlfriend even when the pair are in public; and now the way in which the image you see in your mind feels so right to you, even as it feels so incredibly dirty. You're convinced; Kyouko is right about those two; and you can't get the image out of your head. You curse Kure Kirika's existence for the things she told you over lunch; you curse Assassin's existence for showing you the things she did; and you curse your own existence for being unable to purge these wretched thoughts from your mind. You want to freeze time, manifest your shield, and stick your head inside as far as it will go and scream as loudly as you can; but you don't.
You can imagine Mikuni Oriko and Kure Kirika that way; but can you do the same for you and Madoka? Do you love Madoka in that way? Do you desire her in that way?
You don't know; and like all things, the fact that you don't know is what terrifies you.
[ ] Wat do?
