the real question that i don't knwo if it's been awnsered is when in the timeline are we. A lot of stuff has changed of course but knowing when we are is kinda important
 
Adhoc vote count started by Erien on Sep 3, 2022 at 9:34 AM, finished with 55 posts and 30 votes.


Results so far.

Wow, people don't want Shirou to live out his sword fetish.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Erien on Sep 3, 2022 at 9:34 AM, finished with 55 posts and 30 votes.


Results so far.

Wow, people don't want Shirou to live out his sword fetish.
Save it for the VN, we're gonna get Greek up in here.
 
[x] [Of Battle]

A portent of things to come, so he doesn't get completely blindsided... after that we can ease into easier dreams that inspire feelgood so that shit hitting the fan is appropriately harsh.
 
Care… is a word I'd only say should be reserved because of a Curse.

A Curse By THE God Of Evil Wearing His Wife's Face.

Kiritsugu pulling Shirou from the ashes was the last time he would experience happiness and health. The smiles he wore a false, thin mask. Even the stress his body had undergone from his Bounded Field escalated slowly into debilitating then crippling agony. Even as a supposed blank slate, Shirou knew it was his father who needed care.

This is still significantly better than Dresden's childhood when it comes to parental care. His mom was killed shortly (like within hours) after his birth by her jealous former lover. His dad was killed a few years later by same. Then he was adopted by a member of the magical police, along with a girl. Said adoptive father raised them with abusive magical training, then decided it was it was time to go full evil, and magically enthralled the girl, attempted to use her to trap Dresden long enough to do the same to him, summoned a major demon to kill him when he escaped, and then fought Dresden in a magical duel when he escaped the demon, which left Dresden having killed his adoptive father, and having thought he killed his adoptive sister/first girlfriend for the next decade of his life.

Emiya Kiritsugu was a much better father than Justin DuMorne :p.
 
Emiya Kiritsugu was a much better father than Justin DuMorne :p.
I acknowledge that the outright antagonist character you've described is clearly worse, but Emiya Kiritsugu adopted a traumatized young boy, never addressed his obvious survivors guilt, beyond passing on an Ideology which had already failed Kiritsugu himself, pushing Shirou to develop martyr complex entirely about his need to take action to save people, with actually saving people or lasting impact being entirely secondary to what borders on an involuntary impulse to put himself in harms way for others. This ultimately leads to shirou living a lifestyle he consistently comes to regret and an afterlife so miserable Archer Emiya breaks the laws of time and space for a chance to mercy/veangance kill his former self to try and escape.

In addition, he bothered to introduce shirou to magic at all but didn't follow through enough to make sure shirou wasn't doing anything too dangerous.

Honestly the kindest thing Kiritsugu ever did was introduce Shirou to Taiga and Raiga, without whom he would most likely be a complete wreck. In all else, he was a very irresponsible and destructive parent.
 
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Honestly the kindest thing Kiritsugu ever did was introduce Shirou to Taiga and Raiga, without whom he would most likely be a complete wreck. In all else, he was a very irresponsible and destructive parent.

I feel like this is more an issue of Kiritsugu being messed up himself... so less malice and more... you need therpy, the kid you saved need therapy...

only person that DOESN'T need to talk shit out is Taiga!
 
Adhoc vote count started by Erien on Sep 4, 2022 at 7:27 PM, finished with 68 posts and 36 votes.


Vote locked, time for Shirou to have a beach vacation.

In other news,

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Well, beaches + Medea... Medea Lily? Circe? Here's to hoping one of them haunts our dreams.

Oooor we could dream about daddy's island encounter, where he learnt horrible things.
 
1.2 - Greek to Me

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNScPFHoZPk

[Of an Island]

Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!


Fun fact, Medea is not Greek, she's Georgian! … The Georgia just south of Russia specifically. Though in her time it would have been known as Egrisi to most everyone else except the natives! Not a ton is known about the Kingdom of Colchis, except that it was apparently both wealthy and busy, with dozens of local languages.

I'm using Greek themed music however, as the tale of Jason and the Argonauts is well, Greek, and for that matter it is far easier to find Greek (or faux-Greek) music than samples from a long extinct kingdom.

Also I like Age of Mythology.

Oh, and of the three options.

Good work picking the one that comes with the biggest Clusterfuck.




You had never been to the beach. Not out of any particular malice or dislike on your part, you had 'been' to the beach, Fuyuki had two separate from the docks where people would regularly go during the summer to frolic and cool off. But you had never been to the beach, you had merely walked by or viewed it from a distance. Swimming never held any particular interest to you beyond exercise, and for that the pool at the school was more than enough for anything like that. As for entertainment? Taiga never showed much interest, and Kiritsugu seemed to have a virulent dislike for the beach so intense that you never thought it wise to ask him why.

You had never been to the beach, but… it was nice.

Though this was most definitely not Fuyuki. You stood on a shore that was a mix of gray rock and sand that deep blue water washed against in a slow pattern of pushing and pulling. The air was heavy with the scent of salt… but none of the oil that tended to cling around Fuyuki's shores. It was also remarkably warm in comparison, while back home the chill coming off of the Pacific would force you to wear a jacket, here you felt overdressed even in your relatively light winter uniform.

You were standing in an alcove, maybe twenty feet or so across in either direction, with a large wide endless deep blue sea that stretched out as far as your eyes could see. On either side of the alcove were tall cliffs, an almost silver gray due to the glint caused by the seawater that painted them. Further back behind… the beach quickly disappeared, instead replaced by tall and proud pine trees, their light brown barks complimenting the white sand as they cast long shadows across it. Between them, running from the beach through the forest is a path made of paved stone, almost invisible at first, you catch it by light reflecting off of a single stone, then the rest becomes slowly visible as your eyes adjust to picking out the stone amidst the leaves and dirt.

The path leads deeper into 'woods', little more than a copse of trees going back several acres before they fall away before a… temple? Perhaps of a sort, but certainly not Buddhist. This was built of white marble with columns you haven't seen outside of a school history textbook. It sat atop a rocky knoll, it's front facing out towards the beach, standing just in front of it was a statue of a woman, probably a good dozen feet high, in each of her hands is a torch, a real one at that, each burning faint with orange ligh-

You had never been on a roller-coaster either for that matter, but as you find yourself yanked across the island to the front of the temple like the unfortunate last-stander in a tug-of-war competition, you find you may have at least a small inkling of what it may feel like. You double over, whatever you ate last night threatening to com-

Wait.

Where the hell are you? The last thing you remember was working in the shed on your magecraft… if you could even call it that, then Caster said she needed mana and offered herself as your… servant was it?

Right.

A servant, a soul trapped in a human bod-

"You are looking rather ill piglet, did the sea not agree with you? Or perhaps you were so blinded by our temple's magnificence that you find yourself ill at ease to find yourself spellbound to such beauty. Or perhaps you are but simply sick, and require good food and request. Medea, go girl, make yourself useful and fetch food and drink for our guest, this is also within your duties as a priestess."

You blink, your vision swimming momentarily before your new position comes into focus. You are now standing behind the statue, where something previously hidden behind it is now revealed to you clearly. A colorful rug was laid out of red and blues, and sat upon it were several bowls of incense and herbs. Two girls sat upon it, or one with blue hair, and the other an orange. It was the one with orange hair that spoke to you in particular. She looked maybe Sakura's age, if not a year or so younger. Her hair was done up in a cut not dissimilar to those you had seen on office workers around town, though the length of her hair and the style of it was perhaps the only thing in common with any of those ladies.

Namely because, much like Caster, she had pointed ears, though these stuck out to the side a good several inches away from the head, unlike Caster's who had a more upwards tilt. She also, possibly far more obviously, had large wings coming out from around her shoulders, a deep brown, they wrapped around her and made what was already a rather small looking girl even smaller. Her clothes however were beautiful, fine white clothes detailed in gold, though… rather distractingly open around the center, revealing the fact that the woman was rather clearly not wearing a bra.

She's also grinning at you, though your attention is drawn to the side as the other girl shifts. She's a fair bit smaller, though to her credit the orange-haired woman is wearing platform shoes of a height you haven't seen outside of a traditional play. She is also, for a lack of a better description, dressed not much unlike the shows Taiga used to shove in front of you when you were younger. A light blue dress that flowed around her, bedecked much like the other girl in golden ornaments.

Her hair was long, even done up in a ponytail. It was enough to reach all the way down her back to drape onto the rug, and it was a very familiar light blue. You felt a twinge of recognition, the ears, the eyes, the hair, and a moment later you knew you were staring at-

"Auntie, there isn't anyone there?" Caster says, tilting her head and looking rather confused.

"Truly now… how very interesting," the orange-woman says.

You draw your gaze back towards her, and with little clicks of her shoes against the flat marble ground she walks towards you, amusement clear as day in her gaze. You stand still, letting her approach, and she eventually comes to a stop just a few inches away, her gaze traveling over you for several long awkward moments before she nods with a small smile. "So it's finally time then for you, is it?"

You blink. "Time for… what, exactly?"

The girl grins a pleased, but predatory grin. "Medea dear, your training is done for now, return to the temple and enjoy a day off."

"But what ab-" 'Medea' starts to say.

"That was not a request, go along now dear." The girl says, her tone a touch firmer.

Caster nods rapidly, standing up quickly and jogging off towards the interior of the temple. Leaving you alone with the other girl a moment later.

You jerk as she suddenly moves, her hands landing on either side of your face as she gazes into your eyes. "What an odd man she has chosen, but my Medea was always an odd little girl." The girl says slowly and quietly. "So much pain has yet to come to her, will you protect her from that?"

You look towards where the girl ran off into the temple. "Is she in danger?"

The girl in front of you smiles just a touch wider. "Oh, how very driven. What a good little piglet. Tell me boy, what is your name?"

"Shirou," you say, bringing your gaze back down. "Shirou Emiya."

"Shirou…" The girl says, popping her mouth as if tasting your name. "Do you want to become a hero?"

You stiffen.

"You don't need to answer," the girl continues. "My name boy, is Circe, and I know everything about you." Circe then hops back, her wings outstretched even as her hands clasp in front of her chest. "And you are going to help my darling little Medea aren't you?"

"... Yes." You say firmly. "Though I don't know what happened to her yet."

Circe giggles, a hand moving to her mouth. "She'll tell you in time, or she won't. That girl does so love her secrets." She then moves it away to wave it airily. "We shall have to discuss more in the future, for now you are returning to where you belong. But fiiiiirst." She then steps forward again, an impish smile on her face. "Would you like a boon from this Grand Witch?"

You open your mouth to reply, but before you can she reaches up a finger, and… pokes you on the forehead.



[] [Clairvoyance]
You will receive dialogue samples in all vote options moving forward.

[] [Lessons for the Piglet]
Circe is a great teacher, you just need to visit her in your dreams from time to time… and keep it a secret from Medea at her request.

[] [A Blessing]
Sometimes, a blessing from the gods is all one needs to get out of danger. Though in what shape they may come, or how, or when, is but for the oracles to divine and the gods to decide.



Sorry for the shorter length, but I figured the content made up for it. And if you feel like these options may or may not be over the top.

Well.

It's a Clusterfuck.
 
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[X] [Lessons for the Piglet]
Circe is a great teacher, you just need to visit her in your dreams from time to time… and keep it a secret from Medea at her request.

Yay Updoot also I now have this amusing idea in my head of Medea growing frustrated by the similarities in Shirou's future growing skills and her Auntie's teaching style and spying on Shirou throughout his day
 
[X] [Lessons for the Piglet]

Its either this or Clairvoyance for me, and that is because while Circe is a great teacher, I am not 100% sure how good of a student we'd be.
 
[X] [Lessons for the Piglet]
Circe is a great teacher, you just need to visit her in your dreams from time to time… and keep it a secret from Medea at her request.

As much as that specific scenario will likely never come to pass, the idea of Rin ever finding out that Shirou got training from Circe is too funny to resist.

On a more serious note, I would definately preference this option over the blessing, as that sounds like a one off, and I generally prefer growth boosts over consumables.

Clairvoiance also sounds very interesting, but at the end of the day I can't imagine voting for a Shirou who doesn't charge into danger a time or two, so I would rather have the ability to overcome than avoid it.

The biggest sticking point is keeping it a secret from Medea, who isn't the most tusting person and might not react well to Shirou hiding something. I just hope the harem protagonist powers will have worked their magic enough to have her accept this one secret.
 
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Option one also sounds very interesting, but at the end of the day I can't imagine voting for a Shirou who doesn't charge into danger a time or two, so I would rather have the ability to overcome than avoid it.
Hmm, this is a good point, but now I am thinking how this would manifest IC, the clairvoyance that is.

Maybe being a little more informed would help problem solving even in danger?

Is it like a feeling subconsciously that only we as players see in more detail or actual IC knowledge?
 
[X] [Lessons for the Piglet]
Circe is a great teacher, you just need to visit her in your dreams from time to time… and keep it a secret from Medea at her request.
 
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