A Bonding Effort
"Master, you've not even slept yet." The time is 8 AM, precisely eighteen hours since they finished dealing with the Fuyuki Singularity. The venue is the room where Hinako Akuta made her board in Chaldea, a place littered by books of all sorts in an ordered manner — most of them mere superficial dressing but a good number aren't so.
The occupants, three. None are human.
On one side, reading a book about horse husbandry is Billy the Kid, the rascal youngster deciding to occupy his time by reading the myriad 'superficial dressing' around the large bookcase that Hinako set aside, his eyes kept flicking towards the other two occupants.
On the other, the form of Medea of Colchis, her hood put down, revealing her almost elven face as she contented herself sitting on a constructed chair and nursing a cup of drink.
And on the end of the room, away from the door, is Hinako Akuta, lying face down on her bed and fully guilty of the Caster's words. Cleaned of grime and blood, she changed to a full body sweater and for the past ten hours, remained in her position. Not that she needed bed or much rest, the consumed essence of the Executor is a potent drink. And added with the draught that she had quaffed, she's in no need of any rest.
Physically, that is. Mentally, as she faced the two Servants with her crimson eyes, one can see the touch of frazzled nerves in her expression. Medea would never say it, but there's enough similarity between her current Master and her mentor when it comes to how they convey frustration. Makes them look like angry cats.
"Right then, let's talk, the two of you. Speak your pieces."
Caster looks at Archer, who shrugged with abandon, before starting. "So you're not human."
"No."
"And this is not a fact that you'd want others to know."
"No."
"Despite the fact that everyone is already suspecting that?"
The question gets a pair of eyes glaring at the Caster, who merely raised her hand. "Peace, Master, but you know what you did to Saber Alter is wagging tongues already."
"It's the only course of action available. The only one that doesn't lead to everyone's deaths."
"Hah, you do care dontcha, Master?"
The glare switched to Archer, who continued his easy smile. "But there's one thing that you're missing. You never took account on what Miss Shielder got in her sleeves… or well, hands."
"Archer is right here, Kyrielight has, since you haven't noticed it, found a resolve within her."
"Enough to stop Excalibur, Caster?"
"Yes, I think enough to do that."
For a moment, both women stared at each other before Hinako relented. "...What a fool I was then." She sighed, having somewhat dismissed the Shielder. Too caught up in the mood of a goal that she doesn't fully believe in.
"Nah, you're pretty good Master. But something tells me that you're uh, weak in some respects." Taking the glare head on, the Archer continued. "Everything has a blind spot and you're not human, so… what are you then?"
"A…" Hinako paused, looking at the two Servants. "I suppose the word would be 'immortal'. I've lived for a long time, Archer. Too long, some might consider."
Caster shot a question then, "How old?"
"Two thousand? More? It took awhile before I gained sapience but this body remained the same as it was when I became aware of everything."
"Huh, so… what tricks you got?"
"A connection to the World. I am a living terminal that can access some of the power of the World."
"But limited to your shell."
"I've held back for a long time, Caster. Hard to stay among humans if I reveal my powers."
"Right so question then, Master, what are you going to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I didn't bring it up with the rest of the group since you're interested in not letting the world burn but uh, you're not too invested in this all, 'save the world' deal, are you?" His smile dims at that, and carries an undertone of threat. Hinako briefly wondered how quickly she could fire off a command seal before dismissing that possibility. Fighting a gunslinger in a quickdraw duel is liable to end badly.
"Why would I care over much for a species of upstarts who hunted me through the globe for not being one of them?"
"Because you're better than them." At Caster's interjection, the room stills. "Because you, Master, aren't so selfish."
"Medea's right, you really are good… just, y'know, rough."
Hinako sighed, not quite believing that she's being lectured like this. "Right then. Since no questions are forthcoming, are you going to keep secret?"
"It seems pointless at this point but sure thing Master~"
"Then we'd need to mask your power once more. I'm no smith but a pair of swords that can be used to conduct your power and more is easy enough to mask." She paused. "But that's not what you want, is it Master?"
"I'd like to reclaim my belongings. Lev bombed a good number of my cache but I brought a lot to Chaldea. A lot more I've hid throughout the world at various points of time. Dead drops, hidden caches, buried treasures, those sorts of things."
"...Master, just how loaded are you?" Archer asked, a mar of disbelief clear on his face.
Hinako smiled then, "Two thousand years, you figure it out."
"And I assume you're intent on reclaiming these caches via… how?"
"I've listened to the briefings before… all these. Long story short, there are wrinkles in the world that happen every so often. Not so stable that they'd last for long, but they would be active long enough to extract some resources. And depending on location and the timeframe…"
"...we'd be able to dig up and bring them to Chaldea." Caster finished. "Reagents, Servant Catalysts, all other things that would be very useful."
"So you wanna have to focus on these then, Master?"
"Yes. A focus. As Servants," The word rankled at the two, but they let it pass. "You will be expected to do all manner of work and your free time in these critical times would be limited."
Caster scoffed. "Hmph, you think so little of us Servants, Master. But your concern is noted. Speak your bid then."
For the first three weeks, pick a Focus to commit to for Hinako's Servants:
[] War-Armaments. With Medea forging the weaponry and with Billy helping his Master stress-test the weapons, the forged panoply of war should be of great use for Hinako, serving as her weapons in the times to come.
[] Materials and Reagents. Two thousand years worth of accumulated treasures can mean a lot of things. With sufficient cover and subterfuge, Medea can spoof the systems well enough to allow Billy to extract the myriad valuables with none the wiser.
The occupants, three. None are human.
On one side, reading a book about horse husbandry is Billy the Kid, the rascal youngster deciding to occupy his time by reading the myriad 'superficial dressing' around the large bookcase that Hinako set aside, his eyes kept flicking towards the other two occupants.
On the other, the form of Medea of Colchis, her hood put down, revealing her almost elven face as she contented herself sitting on a constructed chair and nursing a cup of drink.
And on the end of the room, away from the door, is Hinako Akuta, lying face down on her bed and fully guilty of the Caster's words. Cleaned of grime and blood, she changed to a full body sweater and for the past ten hours, remained in her position. Not that she needed bed or much rest, the consumed essence of the Executor is a potent drink. And added with the draught that she had quaffed, she's in no need of any rest.
Physically, that is. Mentally, as she faced the two Servants with her crimson eyes, one can see the touch of frazzled nerves in her expression. Medea would never say it, but there's enough similarity between her current Master and her mentor when it comes to how they convey frustration. Makes them look like angry cats.
"Right then, let's talk, the two of you. Speak your pieces."
Caster looks at Archer, who shrugged with abandon, before starting. "So you're not human."
"No."
"And this is not a fact that you'd want others to know."
"No."
"Despite the fact that everyone is already suspecting that?"
The question gets a pair of eyes glaring at the Caster, who merely raised her hand. "Peace, Master, but you know what you did to Saber Alter is wagging tongues already."
"It's the only course of action available. The only one that doesn't lead to everyone's deaths."
"Hah, you do care dontcha, Master?"
The glare switched to Archer, who continued his easy smile. "But there's one thing that you're missing. You never took account on what Miss Shielder got in her sleeves… or well, hands."
"Archer is right here, Kyrielight has, since you haven't noticed it, found a resolve within her."
"Enough to stop Excalibur, Caster?"
"Yes, I think enough to do that."
For a moment, both women stared at each other before Hinako relented. "...What a fool I was then." She sighed, having somewhat dismissed the Shielder. Too caught up in the mood of a goal that she doesn't fully believe in.
"Nah, you're pretty good Master. But something tells me that you're uh, weak in some respects." Taking the glare head on, the Archer continued. "Everything has a blind spot and you're not human, so… what are you then?"
"A…" Hinako paused, looking at the two Servants. "I suppose the word would be 'immortal'. I've lived for a long time, Archer. Too long, some might consider."
Caster shot a question then, "How old?"
"Two thousand? More? It took awhile before I gained sapience but this body remained the same as it was when I became aware of everything."
"Huh, so… what tricks you got?"
"A connection to the World. I am a living terminal that can access some of the power of the World."
"But limited to your shell."
"I've held back for a long time, Caster. Hard to stay among humans if I reveal my powers."
"Right so question then, Master, what are you going to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I didn't bring it up with the rest of the group since you're interested in not letting the world burn but uh, you're not too invested in this all, 'save the world' deal, are you?" His smile dims at that, and carries an undertone of threat. Hinako briefly wondered how quickly she could fire off a command seal before dismissing that possibility. Fighting a gunslinger in a quickdraw duel is liable to end badly.
"Why would I care over much for a species of upstarts who hunted me through the globe for not being one of them?"
"Because you're better than them." At Caster's interjection, the room stills. "Because you, Master, aren't so selfish."
"Medea's right, you really are good… just, y'know, rough."
Hinako sighed, not quite believing that she's being lectured like this. "Right then. Since no questions are forthcoming, are you going to keep secret?"
"It seems pointless at this point but sure thing Master~"
"Then we'd need to mask your power once more. I'm no smith but a pair of swords that can be used to conduct your power and more is easy enough to mask." She paused. "But that's not what you want, is it Master?"
"I'd like to reclaim my belongings. Lev bombed a good number of my cache but I brought a lot to Chaldea. A lot more I've hid throughout the world at various points of time. Dead drops, hidden caches, buried treasures, those sorts of things."
"...Master, just how loaded are you?" Archer asked, a mar of disbelief clear on his face.
Hinako smiled then, "Two thousand years, you figure it out."
"And I assume you're intent on reclaiming these caches via… how?"
"I've listened to the briefings before… all these. Long story short, there are wrinkles in the world that happen every so often. Not so stable that they'd last for long, but they would be active long enough to extract some resources. And depending on location and the timeframe…"
"...we'd be able to dig up and bring them to Chaldea." Caster finished. "Reagents, Servant Catalysts, all other things that would be very useful."
"So you wanna have to focus on these then, Master?"
"Yes. A focus. As Servants," The word rankled at the two, but they let it pass. "You will be expected to do all manner of work and your free time in these critical times would be limited."
Caster scoffed. "Hmph, you think so little of us Servants, Master. But your concern is noted. Speak your bid then."
For the first three weeks, pick a Focus to commit to for Hinako's Servants:
[] War-Armaments. With Medea forging the weaponry and with Billy helping his Master stress-test the weapons, the forged panoply of war should be of great use for Hinako, serving as her weapons in the times to come.
[] Materials and Reagents. Two thousand years worth of accumulated treasures can mean a lot of things. With sufficient cover and subterfuge, Medea can spoof the systems well enough to allow Billy to extract the myriad valuables with none the wiser.
