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Fate/Ethereal Order

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[X] Be professional. Use every scrap of training you've ever had as a magus and bury your feelings as deep as you can. If you lose control now, everyone is going to die, including Roman. Work with her to survive and sort it all out later.

Procrastinate enough and maybe it'd go away
 
[x] Be professional. Use every scrap of training you've ever had as a magus and bury your feelings as deep as you can. If you lose control now, everyone is going to die, including Roman. Work with her to survive and sort it all out later.

We still have an unattended Romani somewhere in the city, finding him is crucial right now.
 
[X] Be professional. Use every scrap of training you've ever had as a magus and bury your feelings as deep as you can. If you lose control now, everyone is going to die, including Roman. Work with her to survive and sort it all out later.
BURY THOSE FEELINGS
 
[X] Be professional. Use every scrap of training you've ever had as a magus and bury your feelings as deep as you can. If you lose control now, everyone is going to die, including Roman. Work with her to survive and sort it all out later.
 
[X] Be professional. Use every scrap of training you've ever had as a magus and bury your feelings as deep as you can. If you lose control now, everyone is going to die, including Roman. Work with her to survive and sort it all out later.
 


I am not sure if be professional is the most wise choice here as it is very much hopes that there won't be anything triggering during the time here, like a fight for life or death where we need to rely on her, or where we need to protect her.
Especially considering our last interaction with her , I mean non interaction as we ran away from her.
 
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[X] Talk to her. Since you left, you've been afraid of her, her power, her influence, and her using them to drag you back to that prison in the woods. But here she has no influence, and you're a Demi-Servant now. You're stronger than her, stronger than she could ever be. Talk with her, and be the one in control for once.
 
[X] Be professional. Use every scrap of training you've ever had as a magus and bury your feelings as deep as you can. If you lose control now, everyone is going to die, including Roman. Work with her to survive and sort it all out later.
 
[X] Be professional. Use every scrap of training you've ever had as a magus and bury your feelings as deep as you can. If you lose control now, everyone is going to die, including Roman. Work with her to survive and sort it all out later.
 
This isn't the most productive option, but it is the funniest
[X] Ignore her. It's some kind of trick, it's a trap, somehow, someway, someone is trying to mess with you, distract you. Circe could have betrayed you this whole time, leading you to think she was on your side while she backstabs you with this illusion. You need to find a way to escape, to focus on the real enemy, to do anything that gets this nightmare away from you.
 
Closing the vote at midnight tomorrow, so about 27 hours from this post. Update will ideally be Saturday.

EDIT: Voting closed. The winning option was to be polite, be professional, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet repress your emotions until after you escape Fuyuki.
 
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Chapter Sixteen: Sibling
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    • You're shocked. Shocked that she could be the one, that of all people who died or were injured, it was Niamh that survived and was sent here with you. The odds must have been infinitesimally small, but you still ended up in this situation anyway, your sister following you even to this hellscape like a banshee's cry, just waiting for you to slip up so she could drag you back.

    You're furious. Furious that she survived, that on top of all the absurd luck she's had in her life, she could survive an attack like the one that happened to Chaldea. Chances were that better men and women were dead or dying, while she got to survive without a scratch on her, and you know hat later she would chalk it all down to skill and power and never give a thought to how lucky she was that she was still standing.

    You're scared. Scared that she's standing in front of you for the first time in nearly ten years, looking almost exactly as you remember her because she ages slower than you do, and you know she wants to take you back and lock you away forever. Even with your new power, even with Archer and Circe beside you, even if she helped kill Lancer, you can't stop the bone-deep chill that floods through your body as your instincts scream at you to be anywhere she isn't.

    You're feeling a lot of things, but this time you can't run away. This time you can't hide. This time you can't just avoid her. She's part of your mission, and you still have two more people to find and rescue. So you do what any good magus would do in a situation like this, where foolish things like emotions and personal pain were getting in the way of results, and you lock them away, no, crush them down. You summon up every ounce of professionalism that you've gotten in the last nine years, every scrap of practice you've had at repressing your emotions, every shred of skill you've learned at self-hypnotism since you were born, and you bring it all to bear against the whirling torrent that threatens to consume you.

    The chains tighten around you a little more, and you feel them crush your chest a little more even through the hard-leather jerkin.

    "I'm here to rescue Candidate Thirteen, Romani Archaman, and Lev Lainur. Please come with me and do not cause a disturbance." Your voice is so empty that you can all but feel the way Circe looks at you in concern, though Archer's gaze hasn't shifted from Niamh at all. Maybe she feels something of what you felt, maybe she's just being dedicated to your defense, you don't have the capacity to care right now as long as her arrows are pointed away from you and yours. It's been a long, long time since you've felt like this, so utterly devoid of anything besides the need to do as you've been ordered.

    It's nice.

    Niamh doesn't seem to think so, her eyes flitting all over you like she can't believe what she's seeing, heedless of the two Servants at either side of you. For a heartbeat, that's all she does, before all of a sudden her eyes start to shimmer with unshed tears and she takes a step forward, holding up a hand and- and smiling like she's just been handed to greatest present she could ever imagine, her voice cracking just a bit as she starts to speak, like she hadn't even heard you at all.

    "E-Eamon! It- it is you! Oh, it's been so long, w-why didn't you ever come and visit? I missed you!" She moves like she's going to rush up and embrace you but Archer steps in front of you before she can, and the look you get of her face before she's in front of you and all you can see is a mane of purple hair is downright venomous, only enhanced by the caked on blood that had been dripping from her ears earlier. Niamh stops and looks at Archer with pure confusion, like she hadn't even noticed her until suddenly she was in the way of her getting to you. Some small part of you makes a note to thank Archer once you can, though first you should probably get Circe to heal her.

    "Do not come any closer to my Master until he has said you may. He does not want you near." Archer's voice is a hair too loud to be normal, but with her hearing destroyed you figure that's probably as best as you could expect. It gets the point across a little better, even, because for all you know Niamh is arrogant to a fault, even she's not stupid enough to ignore a Servant that looks ready to kill. She freezes, though you note that her hand is still squeezing her notebook tight and her stance is ready to leap away at the slightest twitch, any trace of the carefree way she approached you gone like a whisper in the wind. She was ready for a fight the moment you let your guard down.

    "Eamon, what is...what's going on? Who are they, why do you look...you look like you're some kind of knight...?" It's hard to tell what she's feeling, her wariness of Archer seemingly vanishing as she looks at you again with something close to awe in her voice and her words, but you know not to trust them. She's always been like that, but you know what she's really after. You can't trust anything she says, anything she tries to claim, can't trust the way her expression grows hurt as she realises you're not about to embrace her. "It's been so long, I just...can't you let me close to you? I'm not a threat, Eamon, you know I'm not..."

    "Edward, who is this woman?" A tug on your arm diverts your attention, and you turn to see Circe looking at you with a concerned frown on her face. Whatever she expected, you doubt it was this kind of family drama. Still, you're a professional. You can handle this. Just give them the facts and make sure everyone knows you're going to move on.

    "My sister. She also joined Chaldea as a Master Candidate, evidently, and she is the candidate we've been sent to retrieve. Consider her dangerous but don't hurt her unless you have to." You speak with your mind too, to make sure Archer can hear you, and a quick mental affirmation from her is all you need to keep going. The shocked look on Niamh's face probably would have pleased you a little, but right now you don't feel a thing, a perfect machine, exactly like you need to be for this. It's the only thing that lets you look Niamh in the eye to continue your explanation. "This is my Servant, Archer, and a Servant we have allied ourselves with, Caster. We can talk about things once we are out of active danger. If you aren't ready or willing to focus on returning to Chaldea, then I will have Caster knock you out and we will drag you back unconscious. Do you understand?"

    "...I..." She's white as a sheet, her naturally pale skin going ghostly as she looks at you. Clearly this wasn't how she imagined your first meeting in years going, but you can't imagine that it could have gone any way different. No doubt she assumed you'd eat out of her hand like some loyal puppy the moment she deigned to show herself to you, let her put you back on the leash and drag you home to be kept as a spare or worse. She swallows and takes a deep breath before exhaling it, and suddenly the stench of ash and fire and decay is replaced with the scent of a forest in spring, dewy leaves and old oaks and crushed berries. Magecraft to keep her calm, probably. "I understand."

    Archer has lowered her bow, but kept it conspicuously in her hands, and Circe seems...well, not satisfied with the terse explanation, but at the very least not like she's going to press you for something. She'll be gone by the end of this anyway, and you can't imagine something like this is going to stick very well in the Throne. That she helped to save the world, maybe, but not the minutiae of the discussions. Niamh is standing up a little straighter and looking a little warier, the tears you saw in her eyes gone without a trace. Just as easily faked as everything about her reaction, you're certain of it. When she speaks again, she's more composed, matter-of-fact. At the very least, she knows when to be serious.

    "I haven't seen Lev anywhere since I came here, I've been avoiding the Servant we all just killed and staying away from the skeleton men. No contact from Chaldea came through, but that could be the stupid technology not working." Even now, she can't hide the disdain in her voice as she glances to her wrist. "I did meet Romani, but-"

    "What?" You cut her off with a voice like a whip-crack, your carefully crafted professionalism denting like she'd taken a sledgehammer to it. She flinches back just a bit, before drawing herself together and continuing. She doesn't look angry, if anything just a little sad.

    "I met him a few minutes before I heard you and that Servant fighting. He said he had gotten separated from the other group during a fight and that he was heading for the entrance to the cavern to rendezvous with you when you got there. I wanted to follow him, but then I heard you start to fight and..." She trails off and gives a shrug, and gods it's a fight to keep everything down. Part of you wants to scream at her for leaving Roman alone, but you're being professional about this, and that means understanding that Roman was sneaking around outside Lancer's territory and clearly wasn't too hurt, while you were in an active combat situation. Niamh helped you, and the last thing you need is an excuse to blow up at her. If he's at the cave, that's all that matters, though you're a little worried at how long he's been alone. Getting ahead of you must mean he'd had a good head start, he must have been cornered and escaped where you left him early into the fight with Medea.

    After a deep breath, you're ready to move on, and you're about to give the order before you hear a whistle and your brain goes blank and your body moves before you can tell it to. You turn and bring your shield up to cover yourself as you feel something heavy hit it, and then a fragment of a second later it explodes, sending you flying backwards with a yelp. You managed to dig your heels in as you sail back, a Servant's unnatural grace and strength keeping you upright, but you know what that was. The Unknown Soldier's mortars are deadly accurate, and you can hear that high pitched whine again, two, three, four more all heading towards you.

    <"Archer!">

    You call out for her to start intercepting but you really needn't have, she was moving before your mind finished the thought. Her arm blurs as four arrows whistle through the night air, four impacts high in the sky, four explosions that briefly illuminate the ground below in a flash of shining light, and you see them. The Soldier marching in, line after line. It's not even close to the full force it can bear, but they must have been watching, must somehow have known that Lancer is dead. Now that he is, they can spread, fill, patrol. And seeing you here, they're going to try and kill you all for encroaching on their new territory.

    Circe ducks beside you and quickly raises a glowing-green hand to Archer's head, which is almost slapped away until she realises that Circe is healing her. Still, she scowls for a moment before noticing the look you give her, immediately switching to something more passive and accepting. It doesn't matter if she doesn't like Circe, this is serious. Niamh is moving behind you too, closer than you like, but you only have so much area your shield can cover and you don't want to risk her dying, not when it's the world at stake. All you have to do is let Circe pick them off and have Archer intercept the mortars while you block the gunfire-

    There's a glow behind you and you can't risk turning but you know that Niamh's starting to work her magecraft, and the words to tell her to stop die on your lips as she calls out, her voice almost thrumming with power.

    "Tar amach!"

    You watch as ten identical spheres of green light sail over your heads, slamming into the ground and taking shape in seconds. First it's just the suggestion of something humanoid but taller, each one stretching to six and a half feet as they stand and stretch out their arms. All you can see is their backs, but all of a sudden the light is dimming and you can see green skin covered in dark brown armor, polished wood shaped into something close to plate, decorated capes spilling from their shoulders as tresses of electric blue and firey red and bright pink cascade down almost to their back. In each of their right hands, they hold a spear that looks like it's made of ivory and tipped with darkness shaped into a spearhead, in their left they hold a shield that looks like an elm leaf, dark green and rigid like steel. As one, they charge, and you see something vaguely like surprise on the skeletons' faces as they begin to fire. The bullets bounce off the warriors' shields as they strike with with their spears, the rest of the few dozen dead turning to focus on the immediate threat. With Archer shooting down another two mortar shells, you turn to Niamh, who holds her notebook open and gives you a proud smile that makes you want to hit her.

    It's been a long time since you've seen her summon her faerie constructs. She's gotten much better at it.

    "Let's go, Eamon!"

    You don't want to take orders from her but if she's holding them off with her warriors, it's the best chance you'll get. Still, Niamh is going to slow you down, and you can't ask Circe to cover you if Archer can do it for far less cost...

    Professional. You're a professional.

    You reach forward and yank Niamh closer, making her yelp in surprise as you heave her over your shoulder like she weighs nothing. A quick bark for Archer to take care of the mortar fire and you're moving, Circe flying beside you with her wings outstretched, low to the ground but still as graceful as ever, Archer keeping pace with long jumps that give her plenty of time to scan the sky for any projectiles. After another three, they seem to decide the warriors currently crushing the skeletons up close are more of a threat, which suits you fine. As long as it isn't you, they're buying time. The Soldier is slow to conquer new ground, it'll want to root out anything and everything there while it floods it with bodies, literally. By the time they reach the cavern, you should have the Grail.

    With the speed of three Servants, it doesn't take that long. You all but toss Niamh down as soon as the entrance to the cavern is in sight, forgetting any semblance of secrecy as you call out towards the flat stone expanse, boulders and trees scattered here or there, any number of places for Roman to hide.

    "Roman! Roman, we're here! Come out, it's safe!"

    There's too much emotion in your voice and you wish you could have kept it out, but the desperation to keep him safe won out over your already-shaky commitment to professionalism. It's not going to stay safe for too long, you've got maybe a quarter of an hour before the first dregs start to feel their way around the area. But you're in the endgame now, and you need to make sure you can get Roman, get Lev too if he's here.

    For a worryingly long moment, there's nothing, before you see a familiar face pop around the side of a boulder, a shaky smile spreading across his tear-stained cheeks as he all but trips trying to stand up and run over to you. Before you can say anything, Roman lunges forward and hugs you tightly, and you can't even begin to stop yourself from returning the hug, even if you're keeping silent. You don't trust yourself to say anything right now, not...not like this. It lasts longer than just about any hug you've had in as long as you can remember, but when he pulls back all the closeness does is make it easier to see he's been crying.

    "E-Edward, I'm s-so glad you're here, I-I...Lev is..." He shivers like he's about to break down again, but you squeeze his arms and try your best to look as sympathetic as possible when you know what's coming. "H-He must have gone inside, I...S-Saber...I-I could only find half of him..."

    Roman looks like he's about to be sick, and you don't blame him. It's the kind of carnage Servants invite, and seeing a close co-worker's corpse hacked in two couldn't be fun. It's not good at all that you've lost Lev, but you need to push on, think about it later. Saber is in there, and they're the only thing standing between you and the Grail.

    "I...I'm sorry, Roman." You don't know what else to say, it's not like you have time to bury the man or anything like that. "We...once we get the Grail, we can figure things out. You're with us now, you're safe. I promise." He gives you a look, biting his lip and nodding before taking another breath to steady himself as he slips out of your arms.

    "I...I'm okay. I'm okay. I'll be fine until we get back..." He's a doctor, you're sure he's seen death before, and even if it couldn't prepare him exactly for this, it's got to have done something to steel him. Archer is by your side the moment Roman is gone, and for a moment you think you see her hand twitch closer, as if she's going to lay it on your arm but thought better of it. Niamh is still keeping her distance, looking at you with an inscrutable expression, while Circe is looking towards the cavern with a concerned look on her face.

    "It's definitely in there, Edward. I can feel it from here, and Saber too. I'm going to stick to support, since my magecraft won't do much good against them...are you ready?"

    You have to be, don't you? It's that, or face death at the hands of the army of the dead that's slowly spreading towards you.

    "Let's go. Roman, Niamh, stay behind us, but stay close. Once the fighting starts, stay as far back as you can. You're not to even try help, or you'll make yourself a target. Understand?" That's directed more towards Niamh and you give her a glare to make sure she knows it, but you still can't stop your stomach tightening itself into a knot when you speak with her. You want to be anywhere in the world but where she is, but that can come after. You just need this one last ordeal to be over, and you can be rid of her once you're back in Chaldea, somehow.

    The darkness of the cavern looks like it stretches on for miles, the stench of wet rock filling the air, and there's nothing but the dripping of condensation to cut through the silence. A few steps inside and you're already feeling the pounding of your heart like it's everywhere at once, and you need something to fill the void of sound until you get closer. Tactics, status, anything to justify a whispered conversation to stop the oppressive silence from dragging on and keeping you so on edge that you feel like you'll snap the moment you come face to face with Saber. You're used to the silence when it's just you, but with four other bodies and everything else you're used to so completely screwed up, you need something to stop the lack of familiarity from pushing your nerves right before the last fight.

    [ ] Speak with Archer. You can do it privately and you still haven't thanked her for what she did in the fight with Lancer, and the encounter with Niamh right after. There's also the vaguely worrying fact that she mutilated herself to keep fighting, and she seemed almost as monstrous as Lancer did at times. Maybe it's something you need to talk with her about, even if she seemed fine when Lancer was dead.

    [ ] Speak with Circe. She's been on edge since Niamh arrived and you reached the cavern, though that's justifiable enough. If nothing else, you need to take stock of what she plans on doing and how much power she's got left. It's possible she's still freaked about not doing much to help with Lancer, but at the end of the day you didn't do much either, so maybe that would put her at ease, if that's what's wrong.

    [ ] Speak with Roman. You want to comfort him after his friend died, and you want to keep him close because as much as you feel like a parasite for it, the contact he gave so freely helped center you in the hellscape you found yourself in. It'll definitely be best for keeping you grounded before the fight, that's for sure.

    [ ] Speak with Niamh You'd rather go into the fight as nervous and jumpy as a noble when they're around you than speak to her any more than you have to. Chances are that it'd just make you worse.

    ----------​
    Q/N: So I missed my target, but hey, it's up relatively soon compared to the last few!

    We're almost to the end of Fuyuki now, I'm estimating another two or three updates max. I hope you're enjoying yourselves, and as always, thanks for sticking around!
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Speak with Circe. She's been on edge since Niamh arrived and you reached the cavern, though that's justifiable enough. If nothing else, you need to take stock of what she plans on doing and how much power she's got left. It's possible she's still freaked about not doing much to help with Lancer, but at the end of the day you didn't do much either, so maybe that would put her at ease, if that's what's wrong.

    This is the best way I think for Ed to achieve both of his most important objectives:
    -avoid embarassing himself in front of his sister
    -avoid having to deal with hard questions about his current Servant
     
    [X] Speak with Circe. She's been on edge since Niamh arrived and you reached the cavern, though that's justifiable enough. If nothing else, you need to take stock of what she plans on doing and how much power she's got left. It's possible she's still freaked about not doing much to help with Lancer, but at the end of the day you didn't do much either, so maybe that would put her at ease, if that's what's wrong.
     
    [X] Speak with Roman. You want to comfort him after his friend died, and you want to keep him close because as much as you feel like a parasite for it, the contact he gave so freely helped center you in the hellscape you found yourself in. It'll definitely be best for keeping you grounded before the fight, that's for sure.

    Tactically, it's definitely optimal to speak to either Circe, in preparation for a fight where we're probably going to need her help, or to Archer, because we need to know about our ally's unusual capabilities.

    But, well.

    I like Roman.
     
    [X] Speak with Archer. You can do it privately and you still haven't thanked her for what she did in the fight with Lancer, and the encounter with Niamh right after. There's also the vaguely worrying fact that she mutilated herself to keep fighting, and she seemed almost as monstrous as Lancer did at times. Maybe it's something you need to talk with her about, even if she seemed fine when Lancer was dead.

    Odds seem low that Saber is Artoria given other cast shakeups, eh? Anyone want to place guesses on anyone else?
     
    Cast being what it is, I want to say they pulled something crazy and got Saber David.
     
    [X] Speak with Archer. You can do it privately and you still haven't thanked her for what she did in the fight with Lancer, and the encounter with Niamh right after. There's also the vaguely worrying fact that she mutilated herself to keep fighting, and she seemed almost as monstrous as Lancer did at times. Maybe it's something you need to talk with her about, even if she seemed fine when Lancer was dead.
     
    Squirtodyle said:
    You're shocked. Shocked that she could be the one, that of all people who died or were injured, it was Niamh that survived and was sent here with you. The odds must have been infinitesimally small, but you still ended up in this situation anyway, your sister following you even to this hellscape like a banshee's cry, just waiting for you to slip up so she could drag you back.

    You're furious. Furious that she survived, that on top of all the absurd luck she's had in her life, she could survive an attack like the one that happened to Chaldea. Chances were that better men and women were dead or dying, while she got to survive without a scratch on her, and you know hat later she would chalk it all down to skill and power and never give a thought to how lucky she was that she was still standing.

    You're scared. Scared that she's standing in front of you for the first time in nearly ten years, looking almost exactly as you remember her because she ages slower than you do, and you know she wants to take you back and lock you away forever. Even with your new power, even with Archer and Circe beside you, even if she helped kill Lancer, you can't stop the bone-deep chill that floods through your body as your instincts scream at you to be anywhere she isn't.

    You're feeling a lot of things, but this time you can't run away. This time you can't hide. This time you can't just avoid her. She's part of your mission, and you still have two more people to find and rescue. So you do what any good magus would do in a situation like this, where foolish things like emotions and personal pain were getting in the way of results, and you lock them away, no, crush them down. You summon up every ounce of professionalism that you've gotten in the last nine years, every scrap of practice you've had at repressing your emotions, every shred of skill you've learned at self-hypnotism since you were born, and you bring it all to bear against the whirling torrent that threatens to consume you.

    The chains tighten around you a little more, and you feel them crush your chest a little more even through the hard-leather jerkin.
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    Repression.txt

    Dammit all this is why I voted for the big-dick energy option of straight-up ignoring her. The choice even said it'd involve burying his feelings, but you still picked it! God just look at this mess of a human being, he just went screaming for psychological crush-depth because being around his sister is panic-attack-inducing and his response feels well beyond the ol cognitive behaviour therapy.

    "I'm here to rescue Candidate Thirteen, Romani Archaman, and Lev Lainur. Please come with me and do not cause a disturbance." Your voice is so empty that you can all but feel the way Circe looks at you in concern, though Archer's gaze hasn't shifted from Niamh at all. Maybe she feels something of what you felt, maybe she's just being dedicated to your defense, you don't have the capacity to care right now as long as her arrows are pointed away from you and yours. It's been a long, long time since you've felt like this, so utterly devoid of anything besides the need to do as you've been ordered.

    It's nice.
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    concern.jpg

    No wonder the guy has an implied history with BDSM. Look at him, he's got anxiety.

    Niamh doesn't seem to think so, her eyes flitting all over you like she can't believe what she's seeing, heedless of the two Servants at either side of you. For a heartbeat, that's all she does, before all of a sudden her eyes start to shimmer with unshed tears and she takes a step forward, holding up a hand and- and smiling like she's just been handed to greatest present she could ever imagine, her voice cracking just a bit as she starts to speak, like she hadn't even heard you at all.

    "E-Eamon! It- it is you! Oh, it's been so long, w-why didn't you ever come and visit? I missed you!" She moves like she's going to rush up and embrace you but Archer steps in front of you before she can, and the look you get of her face before she's in front of you and all you can see is a mane of purple hair is downright venomous, only enhanced by the caked on blood that had been dripping from her ears earlier. Niamh stops and looks at Archer with pure confusion, like she hadn't even noticed her until suddenly she was in the way of her getting to you. Some small part of you makes a note to thank Archer once you can, though first you should probably get Circe to heal her.

    "Do not come any closer to my Master until he has said you may. He does not want you near." Archer's voice is a hair too loud to be normal, but with her hearing destroyed you figure that's probably as best as you could expect. It gets the point across a little better, even, because for all you know Niamh is arrogant to a fault, even she's not stupid enough to ignore a Servant that looks ready to kill. She freezes, though you note that her hand is still squeezing her notebook tight and her stance is ready to leap away at the slightest twitch, any trace of the carefree way she approached you gone like a whisper in the wind. She was ready for a fight the moment you let your guard down.

    "Eamon, what is...what's going on? Who are they, why do you look...you look like you're some kind of knight...?" It's hard to tell what she's feeling, her wariness of Archer seemingly vanishing as she looks at you again with something close to awe in her voice and her words, but you know not to trust them. She's always been like that, but you know what she's really after. You can't trust anything she says, anything she tries to claim, can't trust the way her expression grows hurt as she realises you're not about to embrace her. "It's been so long, I just...can't you let me close to you? I'm not a threat, Eamon, you know I'm not..."
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    First of all, thank god for Archer, for once her overprotectiveness is now just ordinary warranted protectiveness because the effect Niamh has on Ed has so many red flags you could use it to run the bulls in Pamplona.

    Second, now we get to play that most fun of games, 'how much of the narration is actually true and how much is filtered through Ed's perception of things'. Is Ed's assesment of her and her personality genuinely outdated? It has been ten years, and she sure seems pretty relieved to see him. But if Ed's observations about her secretly being on guard and carefully controlling her responses are on point, she could be a real problem. I don't have an answer right now, it's just something to really look out for because it doesn't actually change what a big problem it is for her to be around him, just the severity of the problem she poses in the long-term.

    "My sister. She also joined Chaldea as a Master Candidate, evidently, and she is the candidate we've been sent to retrieve. Consider her dangerous but don't hurt her unless you have to." You speak with your mind too, to make sure Archer can hear you, and a quick mental affirmation from her is all you need to keep going. The shocked look on Niamh's face probably would have pleased you a little, but right now you don't feel a thing, a perfect machine, exactly like you need to be for this. It's the only thing that lets you look Niamh in the eye to continue your explanation. "This is my Servant, Archer, and a Servant we have allied ourselves with, Caster. We can talk about things once we are out of active danger. If you aren't ready or willing to focus on returning to Chaldea, then I will have Caster knock you out and we will drag you back unconscious. Do you understand?"

    "...I..." She's white as a sheet, her naturally pale skin going ghostly as she looks at you. Clearly this wasn't how she imagined your first meeting in years going, but you can't imagine that it could have gone any way different. No doubt she assumed you'd eat out of her hand like some loyal puppy the moment she deigned to show herself to you, let her put you back on the leash and drag you home to be kept as a spare or worse. She swallows and takes a deep breath before exhaling it, and suddenly the stench of ash and fire and decay is replaced with the scent of a forest in spring, dewy leaves and old oaks and crushed berries. Magecraft to keep her calm, probably. "I understand."
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    Edward: "Beep boop, bitch."
    Niamh: "What?"
    Edward: "I said 'beep boop', what are you, deaf? (Bitch)"

    "Let's go, Eamon!"

    You don't want to take orders from her but if she's holding them off with her warriors, it's the best chance you'll get. Still, Niamh is going to slow you down, and you can't ask Circe to cover you if Archer can do it for far less cost...

    Professional. You're a professional.

    You reach forward and yank Niamh closer, making her yelp in surprise as you heave her over your shoulder like she weighs nothing [...] You all but toss Niamh down as soon as the entrance to the cavern is in sight
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    Very glad to see Ed finding a way to be a problem even when he's going full 'must turn my mind to steel'.

    forgetting any semblance of secrecy as you call out towards the flat stone expanse, boulders and trees scattered here or there, any number of places for Roman to hide.

    "Roman! Roman, we're here! Come out, it's safe!"

    There's too much emotion in your voice and you wish you could have kept it out, but the desperation to keep him safe won out over your already-shaky commitment to professionalism. It's not going to stay safe for too long, you've got maybe a quarter of an hour before the first dregs start to feel their way around the area. But you're in the endgame now, and you need to make sure you can get Roman, get Lev too if he's here.

    For a worryingly long moment, there's nothing, before you see a familiar face pop around the side of a boulder, a shaky smile spreading across his tear-stained cheeks as he all but trips trying to stand up and run over to you. Before you can say anything, Roman lunges forward and hugs you tightly, and you can't even begin to stop yourself from returning the hug, even if you're keeping silent. You don't trust yourself to say anything right now, not...not like this. It lasts longer than just about any hug you've had in as long as you can remember, but when he pulls back all the closeness does is make it easier to see he's been crying.

    "E-Edward, I'm s-so glad you're here, I-I...Lev is..." He shivers like he's about to break down again, but you squeeze his arms and try your best to look as sympathetic as possible when you know what's coming. "H-He must have gone inside, I...S-Saber...I-I could only find half of him..."
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    weird. Getting chopped in half by a Saber is indeed Lev's ultimate fate, but literally every other thing is wrong. It wouldn't be Altera here with the way the servant roster's been trending, Lev wasn't weakened by turning into an eyeball cucumber and getting beat up, we're two story chapters too early, and we still don't know if Lev's even evil. These next two updates are going to be very crucial for trying to ascertain the trajectory of the rest of the story.

    [X] Speak with Roman. You want to comfort him after his friend died, and you want to keep him close because as much as you feel like a parasite for it, the contact he gave so freely helped center you in the hellscape you found yourself in. It'll definitely be best for keeping you grounded before the fight, that's for sure.

    I'd be fine with any of these options winning because they all have merit but let's talk about this one specifically. Setting aside the possibility that the fight with Saber will require a bit of the ol LOAD CHALDEAS from Edward and talking to his beau will enhance it with the Power of Love. First of all, 'emotionally vulnerable' doesn't even begin to cover the way Ed is now that Niamh's joined the party, so getting to comfort someone else will probably help him a hell of a lot. Second, I've been intensely suspicious of Roman ever since that double whammy of 'human(?) male Mashu' and 'no ring' and the fact that Roman just charged offscreen straight into the Grail cavern and came out sobbing OH NO LEV DIED HOW TRAGIC is making me imagine him and Lev as just



    so the more we get him to talk the better. I need to cross-examine the witness.
     
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    [X] Speak with Roman. You want to comfort him after his friend died, and you want to keep him close because as much as you feel like a parasite for it, the contact he gave so freely helped center you in the hellscape you found yourself in. It'll definitely be best for keeping you grounded before the fight, that's for sure.
     
    [X] Speak with Circe. She's been on edge since Niamh arrived and you reached the cavern, though that's justifiable enough. If nothing else, you need to take stock of what she plans on doing and how much power she's got left. It's possible she's still freaked about not doing much to help with Lancer, but at the end of the day you didn't do much either, so maybe that would put her at ease, if that's what's wrong.

    Archers problems are larger scope, they can be dealt with later
     
    Also, the part I forgot to add to my post because I was running late and had to dash right after I posted it; ol' Ed discarded his birth name when he ran. Not just discarded, but replaced both his given and surname with Anglicanized (is that the right term?) versions of them. And Niamh, his genetically superior sister, is strongly fae-aspected which shows instantly with her magic. He's symbolically thrown away his heritage because he fully associates it with everything about his life he hates, and now he's merged with Galahad, a character from English myth.

    However as far as I can tell Castle Corbenic where his mother Elaine lived is never given an explicit location so it'd be really hilarious if it later turned out Galahad was half Irish and merging with him actually led Ed toward reconnecting with his heritage.
     
    [X] Speak with Archer. You can do it privately and you still haven't thanked her for what she did in the fight with Lancer, and the encounter with Niamh right after. There's also the vaguely worrying fact that she mutilated herself to keep fighting, and she seemed almost as monstrous as Lancer did at times. Maybe it's something you need to talk with her about, even if she seemed fine when Lancer was dead.

    Shaky as it is let's attempt to maintain the image of professionalism, plus I'd like to be clued in on Archers identity.
     
    [X] Speak with Circe. She's been on edge since Niamh arrived and you reached the cavern, though that's justifiable enough. If nothing else, you need to take stock of what she plans on doing and how much power she's got left. It's possible she's still freaked about not doing much to help with Lancer, but at the end of the day you didn't do much either, so maybe that would put her at ease, if that's what's wrong.
     
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